PowerPuff: Altered Destiny
by Parsec
Summary: The professor invents a device that allows him to travel to a parallel universe...but what he finds there shocks him...
1. Girls of Darkness

PPGAlteredDestiny **__**

PowerPuff: Altered Destiny

By: Mark J. Hadley

**********

The City of Townsville...a happy city, where even strangers you meet on the street will greet you with kindness and generosity. And at the center of it all, the most beloved members of the city...the PowerPuff Girls! These three lovable little superheros have kept the city safe from all forms of danger, from monsters and supervillains to petty crooks. The city is one of the safest places in the world to live, thanks to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup.

And helping the girls through their lives as superheros is their creator, Professor Utonium. His own kind-heartedness guides the girls to listen to their own hearts, and as a result, they want nothing more than for the people of Townsville to live free. The professor is their guardian as much as they are the city's guardians.

As always, the professor still continues his work, not only in developing the girls into full-fledged superheros, but also his own research and invention. Despite having created the PowerPuff Girls, he still feels that there is more he can contribute, something to produce not only worldwide scientific reknown, but also help humanity as a whole. Thus, his work always proceeds, and no one is able to tell what breakthroughs he will achieve next...

**********

"Eureka!"

Professor Utonium finished attaching the last of the components to the side of the device. His eyes lit up, the same way it does every time he finishes one of his inventions. His basement lab was a bit cluttered because of the work he'd been doing the last couple of weeks, but now it was finally done. "Girls!" He called out up the steps, "Come here! I have something to show you...but be careful when you come in, because..."

The girls flew in suddenly from the steps. Unfortunately, one of the professor's apparatus' was near the steps, and they ended up crashing into it. It collapsed into pieces on the ground. Buttercup cringed a little, "Oops..."

"Girls," the professor said, a little angry, "how many times have I told you to be careful when flying into the lab?"

"We're sorry," all three of them said together

"Never mind, I'll have to clean it up later." _They really need to learn to be more careful down here, _he thought. _It seems like every time they come down here, they break something._ "Anyway, the reason I called you down here...have a look at _this!_" He held a device up in the air proudly. It was slender, like the remote control for a television, but covered with several dozen flashing lights, and a mini radar dish on one end. "It's the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device, or HCMD. Oh, I've been working on this for a _very_ long time! Isn't it great?"

Bubbles scratched her head, "What does it do?"

The professor grinned, "Why, the HCMD can force open a stable wormhole leading into an alternate universal planes of reality..." Still seeing confused looks, he clarified, "It opens up portals into other dimensions!"

"Whoa..." Buttercup remarked.

Blossom smiled, "Way to go, Professor! How does it work?" She reached out to touch it.

The professor yanked it back just in time, "Be careful! The settings on it are very delicate!" He aimed it back towards his lab, and said, "You need to tune it in to the proper coordinates, then press _this_ button, and..." As he pressed the button, a spark of electricity jumped out from the HCMD, stopping in midair. At that point, a large, swirling vortex appeared, about ten feet across, and hovered there.

The girls stared on in amazement. "Cool!" Buttercup exclaimed. "Where does it go?"

"Well, that's what I'm going to find out." The professor stepped up to the vortex, "Now, don't worry about me, I'm just going to pop in and have a peek, then I'll used the HCMD again and come back."

Blossom looked uneasy, "Well...if you think it's safe...just be careful, Professor!"

"Of course I will! I'll see you in a few minutes, girls, just try not to break anything while I'm gone, okay?" And with that, the professor stepped into the vortex. The lights swirled around him for a few moments, and he vanished. Moments later, the vortex sealed up behind him.

"I sure hope the professor knows what he's doing." Buttercup remarked.

"Me too, Buttercup," replied Blossom. "Me too."

"Me three," added Bubbles. As they flew out of the lab, Bubbles accidentally bumped into a rack of test tubes and beakers. It crashed to the floor. She cringed a little, then whistled aimlessly as she left the lab.

**********

Professor Utonium stepped out from the vortex. Everything was dark, except for the HCMD in his hands and the vortex itself, which slowly closed up behind him.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Not receiving a reply, the professor felt around in the darkness, until he felt a wall, and his hands crossed over a light switch, "Ahh, good...now, let's see what we can see." He flipped the switch.

A single light came on. The light, suspended from the ceiling, was hanging down loosely by the cord. Several other similar lights were nearby, but they were cracked and broken. In the dim light, he saw several worktables, and piles of broken glass containers and other old, dusty pieces of equipment. It almost looked like...

"...my lab!" the professor exclaimed. "It's my lab...but what happened to it?" The place was a complete mess. Overturned beakers, spilled chemicals, books torn from the shelves. It didn't look so much like it was ransacked, but more like an earthquake had hit it.

"Well, I'd better come back later to get a better look at this place. Right now, I should get back." He held out the HCMD, tuned it back to his own dimension, and pressed the button.

Nothing happened.

He pressed it again. Still nothing.

"What's wrong with this thing?" He hit a few buttons and looked at the readout. It read:

BATTERY SUPPLY DRAINED

TIME TO RECHARGE:

23 HOURS, 42 MINUTES, 12 SECONDS

"A whole day?!" he exclaimed. He suddenly felt worried. _The girls are expecting me back in a few minutes!_ he thought. _Well, it looks like I'll get the chance to look at this place now. I just hope the girls don't get worried about me being gone._ With that, he climbed up the dusty steps and opened the door back to the house.

He was momentarily startled. There _was_ no house, only a large pile of rubble. Only the small part of the house he in was still standing, but just barely. As he closed the door behind him, there was a brief tremor, and the rest of the house collapsed behind him. _Maybe we moved,_ he thought, _or maybe we don't even exist in this universe. Wait, of course we exist! That was my lab, I know it...so what's going on?_

It was getting dark outside, but he could still see fairly clearly. There didn't seem to be any other houses left standing in the neighborhood either. For a moment, he thought that something terrible had happened, like the city had been demolished, but then he spotted the familiar rise of buildings in the distance. Most of Townsville was still standing, at least, that was a relief. Maybe he would be able to find out what happened _there_...

**********

The city was a terrible sight. When he had eventually finished his trip down the road and reached the heart of Townsville, he continued to be shocked at what he saw. The buildings were run-down, and many of them abandoned. Old newspapers fluttered about in the wind, and trash was piled up in different places. There was hardly anyone up and about. What few people he did see darted quickly between buildings, as though they didn't want to be outdoors for too long.

_Something's wrong here_, the professor thought. _It looks like people are afraid to come out of their homes. Why? Is there something dangerous out here? If there is, why aren't the girls here to stop it?_

As he continued walking, he tripped over a cardboard box sticking out of an alley. There was a small man underneath the box, looking like he was sleeping, but when the box was knocked off he scrambled backwards. "Aagh! I didn't mean to do it! I was just looking for a place to sleep!"

"I-I'm sorry, sir, I..." Professor Utonium began. Then he broke off as he suddenly realized who he was looking at. "Mayor?! What are you doing here?"

It was the Mayor all right. He was still wearing the same outfit as always, but now it was wrinkled and torn, and covered in dirt and grime. The monocle over his left eye was slightly cracked. His hair was also tangled and unkempt. "Please, take my watch, anything, just let me go! Miss Bellum! Save me!"

From deeper in the alley, Miss Bellum appeared. Her own hair and clothes were in a condition similar to the mayor's. "I'm here! I'll protect you, Mayor! Hang on!" She only got a few steps out of the alley when she froze, staring at the professor. "P--....Professor Utonium?"

The professor didn't even get the chance to respond, when someone further down the street shouted, "Look out!" There was an explosion from around the side of one of the buildings, and a large cloud of dust poured out onto the street. Miss Bellum grabbed the professor's hand and said, "Quickly, we have to get out of here!" They both ran down the street the opposite way.

"Miss Bellum! What about me?" the mayor called out. Miss Bellum froze for a moment, but then continued running. She pulled the professor into a side alley. The professor leaned out of the alley to get a better look at what was going on. He gasped at what he saw.

The PowerPuff girls were standing in the street, but they looked different than they had before. Blossom was no longer wearing her bow or hairpin; her long hair hung out freely. Bubbles's hair also hung freely down to her shoulders, instead of in pigtails as usual. Buttercup was covered with large scars, like she had been through some tremendous fight. What were most different, though, were their outfits; all three of them wore black, with a single stripe of color across the waist.

"Gir--" the professor began, but Miss Bellum threw a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. He just watched as the spectacle unfolded before him.

Everyone had cleared off the street except the mayor, cowering near the cardboard box. Blossom floated over, "So it's you again. What are you doing out here? Go home, citizen."

"I-I don't have a home, r-remember, girls?" the mayor stammered.

"Just as I thought." Blossom frowned. "You know sleeping in the alleys is against the law. But that doesn't stop anyone, it never does. Too bad for you."

Buttercup spoke up, "I'll take care of him." She punched one fist into the other.

"No, Buttercup, not this time," Blossom replied. She scooped the mayor up and floated over to Bubbles. "Bubbles, take him to Lockup, okay?"

Bubbles said nothing, but silently nodded. She picked up the mayor and flew off into the sky. Blossom glanced around, looking at the other alleys. Miss Bellum yanked the professor back into their own alley and whispered, "Quietly...this way..."

"But," the professor whispered back, "what's going on..."

"Shhh...I'll explain, just come with me..." The two of them disappeared into the alley. Blossom and Buttercup surveyed the area for another minute or so, then took off into the darkening skies.

**********

"Okay, what's going on around here?"

Professor Utonium was in a small room, all run down and ramshackle, seated at one end of an old wooden table. Across from him, Miss Bellum was seated tensely at the other end of the table, "First, I'd like to ask _you_ something, Professor...what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here, you know..."

"Look, I know this is kind of hard to swallow, but I'm not really from your dimension," the professor replied, holding up the HCMD, "I traveled here with this. I'm from a parallel universe."

Miss Bellum relaxed a little, "Well, that would explain it, then. At first, I thought I had seen a ghost." She hung her head slightly, "After all, you're...well, you're supposed to be dead..."

"What?!" exclaimed the professor.

"Let me explain," she continued, "It's been a while since the incident, almost a year...I don't know if it happened in your world, but there was a man by the name of Harold Smith..."

"Mr. Smith?" the professor said with a frown. "How could I forget that? The crazy fool held me hostage...but luckily, everything turned out all right."

"No, it didn't."

"It...didn't?"

"Apparently, Mr. Smith suddenly snapped, and the next thing you know...it was all over. The girls were powerless to do anything about it. When the police got there, they found Harold Smith in critical condition...but it was too late to save _you_."

The professor bit his lip, and kept listening.

"You have to realize how hard they took it", Miss Bellum continued, "Especially when you consider what they've been through. They save the city from unimaginable disasters, only to have an _average_ nut destroy the one thing most dear to them. They were devastated. That's when everything changed; they vowed revenge on the criminals of Townsville and began taking the law into their own hands. Any criminal they found was locked up permanently in a building they call Lockup. Even the smallest of crimes was punishable by lockup, and larger crimes truly brought down their wrath. The citizens are afraid to even set foot outdoors anymore."

"How could this happen?" the professor said incredulously, "It's hard to believe they would do such terrible things..."

"They changed a lot. Blossom is more of a tyrant now than a leader. After kicking the Mayor out of City Hall, she basically started running the whole city. She was the one that started the movement against the "criminals" of Townsville. Buttercup has become very cruel...after single-handedly hunting down Mojo Jojo, Sedeusa, and Fuzzy Lumpkins, she left them barely alive as she shoved what was left of them into lockup. The battle left her scarred and beaten, but it proved to the city that nothing would ever be able to stop them."

"What about Bubbles?"

"She slipped into a depression early on...she hasn't even spoken a single word since the incident. She does whatever the other girls say, but you can tell that her heart really isn't in it."

The professor fought back a tear, "Those poor girls...I wish I could do something to help them..."

"They're beyond that, now," Miss Bellum replied. "They won't listen to reason anymore, we've tried. But I am glad to see you, Professor, because maybe you can help us..."

"How?"

She stood up, "By helping us destroy them."

"What?!" The professor exclaimed. "I'm not going to hel--"

"Listen to me, Professor!" she interrupted, "This city is a tomb. The people are desperate. It must be done! I understand that you know the formula for Antidote X. We need you to make some for us..."

"I won't do it...there must be another way."

"There _is_ no other way!" She slammed a fist on the table. "We've tried _everything_, and the girls won't stop...don't you see? I don't want to destroy them any more than you do, but we have no choice now!"

The professor stood up, "Miss Bellum. I don't care what you say...there's nothing in the world that would _ever_ make me turn against my own girls!" With that, he turned and strode out of the room.

Miss Bellum sighed, as she watched the professor leave. She muttered to herself, "Very well. With or without your cooperation, it will be done. There's still someone else that knows the formula for Antidote X..." With that, she unrolled a map on the table, diagrams of Lockup with an intricate escape plan, the arrows pointing to a single cell...

**********

Professor Utonium walked along the streets once more. As he looked around, he saw dozens of people huddled together in the alleys, closing and locking their doors and windows, and getting off the streets. _It's incredible...I never would have imagined the girls would be capable of reducing Townsville to this. _He didn't need to see any more; he knew he had to do something. With that, he started heading deep into the heart of the city, towards Lockup.

He approached the building. It was huge, several stories tall, and from what he could tell, there were no windows to the outside, not even the standard small barred windows. It looked very dismal, and run down, yet the walls were strong. He headed for the door, but then froze, as he saw something up on the roof.

A group of people, including Miss Bellum, had climbed up onto the roof and were going into the building through an outside air vent. _What are they up to? I'd better find out..._He made his way around the back and located a place where he could climb up. As the group went into the building, the professor stayed close behind, though he made sure he was out of sight. The group disarmed several security systems, passed down a hallway, and finally stopped at one heavily barred door. _It's a rescue attempt, all right,_ the professor thought. _Maybe they're trying to free the Mayor..._He heard voices coming from the cell, of Miss Bellum and it's inhabitant talking.

"Stay calm...we're here to rescue you."

"Rescue _me_?"

"Yes...listen, you're the only one that knows how to make Antidote X. That's why we want to free you."

"So...if I do this for you, you set me free? These are the terms of the bargain, that which I must abide by?"

"Will you do it?"

"Of course...lead the way, 'partner'!" This was followed by an evil laugh.

As the professor listened, he thought, _I know that voice! _A few moments later, Miss Bellum emerged from the cell, followed by...Mojo Jojo. _They're making a deal with Mojo? How could they? Do they really want to get rid of the girls that badly that they would free one the most dangerous villains that Townsville has ever known?_ Slowly, the professor began to understand...to the citizens of Townsville, the risk of Mojo taking over was a small price to pay for their lives...

All of a sudden, alarms started to go off. Miss Bellum shouted, "Let's go!" and the group started to leave. Suddenly, the wall on the side of the corridor crashed open. Floating there, like an ominous shadow, were the girls. People in the group drew pistols and started opening fire on them, which naturally bounced off of them with no effect...the girls flew over and began unleashing a flurry of blows against them. The professor, from his safe hiding place, cringed. _I'd better get out of here, _he thought.

Mojo tried to escape through the hole in the wall, but Buttercup grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed his face into the ground. She kicked him hard in the back with a loud *KRAKK*. Blossom stepped forward towards Miss Bellum, and said, "You really thought this would work, did you? You should know by now that _nothing_ escapes our watch! Now, you're going to pay the price, like any other common criminal trash." Bubbles nodded. Before Miss Bellum could say a word, she was shoved into the open cell, and the door slammed with a *CLANGG*.

The professor, in the meantime, was trying to quietly sneak away, but his foot accidentally crossed an infrared beam that was still active. A buzzer when off, and the girls spun around. "There's one more! After him, girls!" shouted Blossom. The professor took off as fast as he could, making it back up onto the roof.

Running to the edge, he saw that he had no where to go. He turned around as the girls emerged from the building. "No place to go now, it's all over," declared Buttercup.

Then, as they got closer, the girls suddenly froze, and gasped...for the first time in the dim light, the professor was fully visible to them. They stared at him for a few moments...Blossom was the first one to speak, "P--...Pr--....Professor?"

The professor looked back at them. They looked shocked, and he didn't know how they would take seeing him again. "Yes...it's me..." he finally said back.

"But," Buttercup exclaimed, "But you can't...no, it's a trick!" She narrowed her eyes, "Blossom, they're trying to trick us!"

Blossom hesitated, then her own stern expression returned, "We know you aren't who you say you are...and whoever you are, you'll pay dearly for toying with us like this!"

"Wait," the professor said hastily, "Give me a chance to prove it!"

Buttercup folded her arms. "Okay, if you _are_ the professor, then how did you make us?"

"I mixed sugar, spice, and everything nice," he said, "then, accidentally dropped Chemical X into the mix."

"Very clever, whoever you are, but it's not good enough," Blossom replied. "Mojo knew the recipe too, and you probably learned it from him!" She thought for a moment, and asked, "I know! Each of us gave you something when we came back from our first day of school. You kept them on a table in your lab for a week before putting them away. This was before we even started fighting any criminals, so only the _real_ professor would know this."

The professor smiled a little at the memory, "Blossom, you gave me an apple...I remember, because you were supposed to give it to the teacher, but you were still a little shy back then. Buttercup, you gave me a note from Ms. Keane, telling me about how you came into the classroom through the roof instead of the through the door."

Blossom and Buttercup became silent again. After a moment, Blossom asked, "And...and Bubbles?"

"A crayon drawing of all three of you...she didn't have a red crayon, so she had to draw Blossom using orange instead. She drew me standing behind you three, but drew my head too big. Finally, on the back, she wrote a message that you two probably didn't see, that said, 'love you prof, xoxox, bubles'. She even misspelled her name."

The girls looked over at Bubbles, who nodded slowly. They all looked back at him, and Blossom, tears welling up in her eyes, said, "Professor...?"

"Girls..." he said, choking back his own tears at the sight of them. A few more moments passed, and the girls flew over to him, embracing him, tears now streaming down all three of their faces.

"Professor! It...it _is_ you! I...don't believe it..." cried Buttercup. She clenched his arm tightly, and didn't let go, "But how...why...."

"Shhhh..." the professor whispered, "Everything's all right...everything's fine...I'm here..." The girls fell silent, overcome by seeing the professor again. He stayed there comforting them for a long while after that...

**********

"So you came here from another dimension?"

The girls had taken the professor back to City Hall. It was as run down as the rest of the city, but it provided them a quiet place to talk. The professor had filled them in on the details of what had happened, and how he ended up in their dimension. They had listened intently to his story, and their faces still showed signs of both happiness and grief together. Bubbles, through she smiled along with the rest of them, stayed as silent as she always had.

He answered Buttercup's question, "That's right. This, " he said, holding up the HCMD, "is the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device I used to come here."

"Wow," Blossom remarked, "Professor, you don't know how happy we are to hear you talking about your inventions again. It brings back so many memories. We really thought...well, that we'd never get the chance again..."

The professor put the HCMD away, and said, "Girls, listen...what happened here? Why did you do all of this to Townsville? Don't you see that what you're doing is wrong?"

"Professor, when you left us...I mean, when _our_ professor left us...it was so awful. We couldn't take it anymore; something _had_ to be done!"

"Yeah," added Buttercup, "We couldn't just stand by and do _nothing_...that kind of crime should never happen again, _ever_."

Blossom nodded, "We immediately set out to round up the criminals. Locking up Mojo wasn't a problem; Fuzzy Lumpkins and Sedeusa were also easy to find. Princess Morebucks left town; good riddance, I say. We still haven't gotten the Gangrene Gang yet; they went into hiding as soon as we started rounding everyone up. We never caught Him, either...he hasn't tried anything at _all_ recently."

"That's all well and good, but locking up people even for small crimes?" the professor asked.

Blossom answered, "If you let one crime go unpunished, that person will just commit another, then another, then _another_, until the next thing you know, someone you love is..." She swallowed, and continued, "We didn't want to go through the same thing again..."

"But look at you! You've become the very thing that you're fighting against!"

"It was for the good of Townsville!"

"Take a look around you," The professor waved his hands in the air. "The city's a mess. You're doing more to hurt this city than _any_ monster or villain has _ever _done. Then you split up families and send fine, hardworking people into Lockup. And for what? Littering? Jaywalking? Even accidental, at that? Does this deserve them the horrible cells you lock them into?"

"But..." Buttercup began.

"You know why they tried to break Mojo Jojo out of that cell tonight?" the professor continued, "They wanted to know how to make Antidote X, so they could destroy you. They risked their _lives_, their _freedom_, for the good of the town. You aren't any kind of saviors to them, not even protectors anymore. You're villains, just like Mojo. _Worse_ than Mojo."

Blossom looked sadly out of the window at the city. It was still dark out, and almost no lights were showing. The city looked bleak, but even more than that, it looked dead. Out there, all the people they were trying to protect hated them. Buttercup, next to her, looked like she was thinking the same thing, as she spoke softly, "What have we done?"

Blossom looked back at the professor and said, "We only wanted to best for the city...I swear it. We never thought that it would come to this..."

"You can set things right," the professor said, "There's still time."

As Blossom thought about this, Bubbles reached over and took her hand, smiling. Blossom smiled back and said, "We'll do it...I don't know if they'll ever be able to forgive us, but we'll try."

A voice suddenly rang out. "I DON'T THINK SO."

The girls looked around trying to find the source of the voice, which seemed to come from all directions at once. The voice continued, "Ahh yes...once my most hated enemies, now my favorite three girls in the world. I won't let you just turn around and go back to being sweet again. I'm not about to let my favorite show come to an end."

"That sounds like...Him!" Buttercup exclaimed.

"Right you are, Buttercup!" Suddenly, he materialized in a cloud of fire and smoke, and grabbed the professor from behind. The girls gasped and leapt into the air, battle-ready. "Surely, you've wondered where I've been all this time," continued Him, smiling widely. "Well, I've been watching you, and all the suffering and misery you've been bringing to Townsville. Absolutely delightful!"

"Let him go!" Buttercup warned.

"Nonsense, girls!" He held a claw at the professor's neck, "It was fun to watch your own sorrow at the loss of your dear professor, but imagine my surprise when he returns, from another dimension. This is much too good of an opportunity; I'm going to enjoy watching your sorrow all over again..."

"You...can't!" Buttercup exclaimed.

"No! Please....not again..." Blossom begged.

"Yes! That's what I want to hear...and now, the three of you will..." He hesitated, glancing around for a moment, "Hmm? Where's Bubbles?" Bubbles was, indeed, no longer floating next to the others. All of a sudden, the floor beneath Him broke open...Bubbles poked her head out from the hole and grabbed his legs, yanking him backwards. He lost his grip on the professor, who tumbled forward and was caught by Blossom. Bubbles flew up, still holding Him by the ankles, and swung him around, throwing him through the window, and out into the river, several miles away.

"Careful, girls!" Blossom quickly ordered, "He'll be back...keep your guard up!"

They waited by the window, watching the river way off in the distance. A few moments passed, then suddenly the giant, towering form of Him rose out of the water. He had grown larger than a skyscraper, and was surrounded by flame. His voice thundered, "YOU WON'T DEFEAT ME THAT EASILY!" He started walking back, crashing through buildings as he went.

"Come on! We've got to stop him! Let's move!" Blossom ordered.

The three of them shot out of the building, flying quickly towards Him. As they passed over the city, Buttercup pointed at something below, "Look!" The people were coming out of their buildings, watching Him heading towards the girls all set to destroy them. But they weren't running in fear...they were cheering. The girls stopped flying to watch them.

"They're cheering for Him?" Buttercup asked incredulously.

"I think I know why," Blossom answered sadly. "The professor was right...they hate us."

They didn't have long to think over this, as suddenly, a giant claw swung out, smacking into Blossom and knocking her from the sky. She smashed into a building, and for a moment, the cheering in the crowd actually got louder. In the next moment, Bubbles was suddenly grabbed by Him, his claw tightening around her. Bubbles struggled, but didn't cry out.

"That's it!" Buttercup shouted. She suddenly shot forward, punching Him in the face. Bubbles managed to break free, and gave a strong kick to his chest. Blossom flew out from the side of the building and opened fire with her laser vision. The three of them surrounded Him in a flurry of attacks, while he waved his claws around feebly, trying to swat them away. Finally, all three of them together uppercutted Him in the jaw, launching him into the sky. He disappeared over the horizon.

As the dust settled, they looked back down at the people. The citizens' heads were hug sadly, and they returned to their homes. Blossom was no longer surprised by it. She said, "Come on girls, lets get back..."

They flew back into Town Hall, back into the Mayor's office, where the professor was still waiting. "Are you all right, Professor?" Buttercup asked.

"I'm fine, girls...thank you..." They all gathered around him, and he said, "Don't worry about me right now, you have a job to do...you have to return the city back to the people." The girls nodded, fully understanding, and each of them flew off in separate directions into the city. The professor smiled as he watched them go. _They may have done some terrible things here, but I know they'll do their best to make things right again..._

**********

By the next evening, the city was looking a lot better. Everyone had been released from Lockup, and were heading back to their homes. The mayor was returned to City Hall, as was Miss Bellum. People started to get back to their regular lives once again.

The girls stood with Professor Utonium outside of the city, near the remains of the house. They no longer had their old outfits, so they were still wearing their black ones. Despite this, their faces showed signs of happiness once again. As they watched the city, Blossom asked, "Do you think they'll ever fully accept us again?"

"I think they will," the professor replied, "But it will take a lot of hard work. Don't expect them to trust you again in only a day. Do what's right, and follow your hearts, and I know they'll be able to forgive you."

"Professor, I can't thank you enough for steering us back onto the right path." she said. "I can't imagine what would have happened if we kept acting the way we did."

"Do you have to go?" Buttercup asked. "We don't want you leave us again..."

"I'm sorry, girls, " the professor answered, "but I have to. Right now, you're waiting for me back in my dimension, and probably worried sick about me."

"Right," Blossom said, smiling, and fighting back a tear, "Well, we'll really miss you...I promise we'll remember everything you told us. Thank you for everything."

The four of them embraced one last time. Then the professor stood up and activated the HCMD. As before, a spark of electricity jumped out, and the swirling gateway back to his dimension opened up. As he prepared to step through, he looked back at the girls, who were waving to him. Bubbles watched silently for a few moments, then whispered softly, "Goodbye, Professor..." as he disappeared through the gateway...

**********

The professor reappeared back in front of the house, only it was still standing, not a pile of rubble anymore. The flash of light and sound as the gateway closed flashed through the windows on the second floor. A moment later, the girls' heads appeared at each of the windows to see where the light had come from. Their faces lit up as they saw the professor, and in the next moment, they were through the front door.

"Professor!" Bubbles shouted. "You're back!"

"Hello, girls!" the professor said, "It's great to be back...I'm sorry I took so long..."

"We were worried about you...I thought you were only going to be a few minutes..." Blossom said.

"I wasn't worried, I knew the professor could take care of himself." Buttercup said confidently.

"Um, Professor?" Bubbles' eyes dropped slightly, "Just after you left, I sort of accidentally knocked over your scientific chemical thingy on the way out of the lab...I didn't mean to break it..."

"That's okay, Bubbles," the professor reassured her. "Better it than Townsville."

"What?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, I'm just glad to be back home!" the professor replied. Together, the four of them went back into the house. _It's amazing what I've just been through_, he thought, _but not as amazing as the girls...we're all so lucky to have them just the way they are..._

**__**

THE END


	2. Mob Security

PPGADestiny2 **__**

EXCURSION 2 - "Mob Security"

By: Mark J. Hadley

"You mean you're actually going to go back?"

Professor Utonium was in his lab, fiddling with the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device on the table. Blossom was nearby, watching over his shoulder with interest, albeit more of a distraction than a mere observer. _Well, at least I should be happy she's taking an interest in science,_ he thought. He answered her question, "I'm not planning on going back to the _same_ dimension. Simply by changing the frequency of the HCMD transmission, I can open gateways to any number of parallel worlds. This way, I can conduct extensive studies on probability and its effect on the universe."

Blossom looked concerned, "Are you sure it's safe? Last time, it sounded like you were in danger..."

"Yes, but I thought I handled the situation pretty well. I just wish I could do something about this power supply." He peered into the open panel on the back of the HCMD. "There's no way to increase the output or charging rate of the battery without interfering with the device's sensitive mechanisms."

Blossom thought for a moment, then remembered, "That means you're going to have to wait a whole day between each use, right?"

"That's right, Blossom."

"Well, then it's even more dangerous! You can't get away quickly if something goes wrong!"

The professor thought about this, then remarked, "You may be right. Listen...how would you like to accompany me on my next trip? I know the chance of anything bad happening would be a lot less if you came with me."

Blossom smiled. "I'd love to, Professor! It'll be fun...but, what about Bubbles and Buttercup?"

"They'll be all right by themselves." Blossom looked really excited about going. _It's great that she's so fascinated with these things,_ he thought, _and I just know that if she keeps it up, she could become a great scholar someday._ The professor looked up the steps to the lab, and shouted, "Girls! Could you come here, please?"

Bubbles and Buttercup appeared at the top of the steps, saying together, "Yes, Professor?"

"Blossom and I will be going to a parallel universe for the next 24 hours," the professor told them. Blossom nodded enthusiastically.

"What?" Buttercup said, a little upset. "Why does _she_ get to go? No way!"

"Yeah," Bubbles added, "What about us?"

"Don't worry, girls," the professor replied, "she's just coming to make sure nothing happens to me. Next time, I'll take you two along." He picked up another, smaller device from the table, and fixed it into his ear.

Blossom asked, "What's that?"

"I want to make sure I keep a record on the trip. An audio record, anyway. This tiny microphone will record everything that we do, so we can study it later." He finished fixing the device in place, and picked the HCMD from the table. "We're going to be traveling for a day, so Buttercup, you're in charge while we're gone."

Buttercup's face lit up, and she said, "Okay, have a nice trip!"

Bubbles, though, looked uneasy, "But Professor..."

"No 'buts', Bubbles," the professor said sternly, "Buttercup's in charge. Now, come on Blossom, let's go." He raised the HCMD and pressed the button. As usual, the vortex opened up, and the professor stepped through.

"Bye, girls!" Blossom exclaimed. "See you in a day!" She flew through the vortex, and it closed up behind her.

Bubbles watched the vortex close up, and cast a nervous look over to Buttercup, who was floating there with her arms crossed and a smug grin on her face. "Okay, Bubbles...time for _you_ to clean up the house. And while you're at it, make me a sandwich, okay?" She dashed off upstairs to watch television. Bubbles hung her head and sighed, floating slowly up and out of the lab.

**********

"Well, it's the lab, all right. At least nothing's changed, this time."

Professor Utonium gazed around the lab. As he said, everything was more or less untouched. His chemicals and books were still in the same places, as were the tables and other devices. Blossom floated in the air next to him. She said, "You're right, it all looks the same. Maybe this world's not any different than ours."

"That's always a possibility, "

"Won't it be boring?"

"Depends on how you look at it," the professor replied. _If everything's the same,_ he thought, _it would make for a fascinating study into randomization effects, or lack thereof._ He walked up the steps from the lab and opened the door. "I'm sure if we keep looking, we'll..." He stopped. The kitchen he was walking into was occupied.

They looked up from the table with sudden surprise. It was the Professor and the PowerPuff Girls, all right. They looked like they were in the middle of dinner, but all of them were frozen in place, looking towards the door leading to the basement. The alternate professor, slice of pizza in hand, looked otherwise the same, but the girls looked a little different. Their outfits were similar, but the alternate Blossom had her hair in braids. Also, Buttercup's hair was curled, and Bubbles' hair had a single ponytail instead of pigtails.

The professor was a little embarrassed. _I'd better learn to start these trips outside instead of inside.._

The girls at the table weren't shocked for long. They dropped their food and shot up out of their seats, hovering above the table, "What the...?" the alternate Blossom exclaimed. "Professor?" The alternate Professor, in the meantime was too shocked to speak, he just gaped at his double.

A moment later, Blossom flew up from the steps behind him, "What's going on, Prof--...oh..."

Alt-Blossom saw "herself" by the steps, and was momentarily speechless, but she still managed to stammer, "Wh-what in the world?"

"Listen," the professor said, "I can explain..."

Alt-Professor finally came out of his trance, and chuckled slightly. "There's no need...let me guess, 'Professor'...you managed to finish the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device, correct?" The girls all looked at him quizzically.

Holding the HCMD up, the professor nodded, "That's right. You're pretty sharp, Utonium!"

"Right back at you, Prof!" alt-Professor said. Both of them laughed.

The girls continued to look confused. After a moment, Buttercup asked, "Uh, Professor? _What _is going on?"

"Calm down, girls, I'm sure our guest can explain...have a seat, and let's hear what he has to say..."

**********

Elsewhere in the city, in a shadowed room, the door opened, and a short figure walked in. He crossed the room over to a desk on the opposite end and spoke, "You wanted to speak to me, Boss?"

The chair on the opposite end of the desk swiveled around. The dark figure seated at the desk glared at the visitor, while two others figures stood silently at his side. "Yeah, I got something ta say to ya. I just got word that those meddling PowerPuff Girls managed ta foil the bank robbery the other day."

The visitor stepped forward and leaned on the desk, "They have always been a thorn in my side as well as yours. I want them destroyed as much as you. So when you summon me saying you want to destroy the girls, I shall arrive."

"Of course...now, on ta business," The figure in the chair narrowed its eyes as he slid a file across the desk, "It's time for Operation: Long Division. I need you to make us a number of things for it."

The visitor thumbed through the file, examining its contents, and a slow smile spread across his face, "Brilliant..."

"Enough with the kissing-up. Do this, and I promise ya'll be handsomely rewarded. As usual."

The visitor stepped back and bowed, "Of course, boss. Destroying the girls is reward enough. I shall get right on it." With a flourish, he turned and strode out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The figure in the chair leaned back and said, "Excellent...boys, before the day is done, this city will be ours at last!" He began laughing, and his cohorts at his side joined in.

**********

"...and that's the whole story."

The girls were around the table, sharing the pizza and listening to the professor telling them about the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device. Alt-Professor seemed to be the most interested, "That's great! How did you solve the problem of phase shifts that occur during transit?"

"It was easy, I just redirected the multiphasic..."

He continued to drone on, but in the meantime, both of the Blossoms were talking to each other. "It's so weird," alt-Blossom said. "It's like looking into a mirror, almost."

Blossom said, "I like your hair! I never thought of braiding it like that...it looks good on you."

"Well, it can be a hassle sometimes. Yours is cute! The bow is a nice touch."

"Thanks!"

The professor finished talking, and finally sat back. "So now, I'd like to find out what this world is like," he said. "Townsville is still standing, I take it?"

"That's right," Buttercup replied.

"And you girls still fight crime?"

Bubbles scratched her head modestly, "Well, we try..."

"Try? You're the PowerPuff Girls...you never have any problems battling evil."

Alt-Blossom said, "Not usually. I mean, you're right, in a straight fight we're pretty good, but since the Amoeba Boys came to town, we..."

Blossom nearly choked on the pizza she was eating. She coughed, "The _Amoeba_ Boys?"

"Yes," alt-Blossom continued. "Bossman, Slim, and Tiny Jr. We've been on their tail for a long time, but we haven't been able to nail them yet. I mean, fighting crime is one thing, but fighting an entire criminal network...is..." She paused, because Blossom was trying to suppress a snicker. "What's so funny?"

"Hehehe...well, in our world, the Amoeba Boys are spineless, pitiable excuses for criminals...they wouldn't know a crime if it hit them in the face."

The other girls cringed instead of laughing. Buttercup said, "Whatever you do, don't say that around _here_ to anyone. _They_ might be listening."

"You're really serious, aren't you?" Blossom said, a little surprised.

"Maybe I should explain," alt-Professor said. "A year ago, a crime wave suddenly began in Townsville. Each of the heists and other jobs the criminals pulled were executed flawlessly, and not even the girls could catch a single one of them. After a little bit of investigation, we discovered that they were under orders by a new group of crime bosses that had just came into town, the Amoeba Boys. The girls naturally rushed out and captured them, taking them to the law. Unfortunately, none of the evidence held up in court, and the Amoeba Boys were released."

"There wasn't _anything_ you could do?" Blossom asked.

"Afraid not. They had covered their tracks far too well. Most importantly, they never committed a single crime themselves. Not directly, anyway. Their crime network, along with any other allies they acquired, did all the dirty work for them. Nobody couldn't pin a thing on them."

The professor thought about this. _Well, at least one thing's the same; they still don't commit any crimes themselves. Still, the Amoeba Boys...criminal masterminds! It's unthinkable..._ "So, what _have_ you be doing about it?"

Alt-Blossoms spoke up, "We just take care of the day-to-day cleanup of whatever crimes we can." The other girls nodded. "Since we found out what we're dealing with, we were able to stop them once and a while. But no one we ever capture will talk."

"We're going to be here for the next day; is there any way we can help?"

"Sure!" Buttercup said. "We'll take any help we can get, even if it _is_ another Blossom." Alt-Blossom frowned, folding her arms, but didn't say anything.

"Is it all right with you, Professor?" Blossom asked.

"Well, we _are_ going to be here for 24 hours," he said, "so I don't see why not. Just be careful out there, okay?"

"Yay!" Bubbles exclaimed. They all gathered around and started talking about their plans for the rest of the evening. _Maybe I should have brought Bubbles and Buttercup with us_, the professor thought. _This place could sure use their help, too. I wonder what they're up to..._

**********

Meanwhile, in the other dimension, Buttercup was parked in front of the television, eating a bowl of cereal. Bubbles was behind her, dusting the couch she was sitting on. Buttercup coughed once, and scolded, "Hey, Bubbles, watch it! You're kicking up too much dust!"

"Sorry..." Bubbles apologized. She moved to dust some of the pictures hanging on the wall.

Buttercup turned her attention back to the show she was watching. The television continued, "Hey, Puppet Pal Clem! I just got my new website, www-dot-*BONK*-dot-com!" -- "Is it popular?" -- "Well, it gets twenty-thousand *BONK*s a day!"

Bubbles chuckled, and Buttercup shouted, "Hey! Back to work!" She settled back in her seat and smiled, "Ahh, this is the life..."

**********

All four of the girls were flying over Townsville. It _seemed_ quiet, but they knew better. "There are probably several dozen major crimes being committed at this very moment," alt-Blossom said. "We don't find out about most of them until it's too late."

Blossom asked, "Doesn't the mayor ever call you to let you know?"

"The mayor? He won't do _anything_. They're blackmailing him into keeping their activities quiet from us."

Bubbles added, "I miss his calls."

Buttercup suddenly shouted, "Heads up! I see something!" She pointed below towards the park. Groups of people wearing trenchcoats were making some kind of exchange behind a stand of trees. The girls quietly descended and stayed out of sight at a safe distance. "I know those guys." she whispered. "That tall one is Freddie the Fence; he buys stolen merchandise from the thieves in town."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's stop them..." Blossom whispered back.

"Not yet. Wait until they make the exchange, otherwise we won't have anything to book them on." They waited and watched as Freddie's boys received a box from the other group, and passed them back an envelope. Their leader opened the envelope and pulled out a large wad of bills. He counted it, put it back, and shook hands with Freddie.

"Now!" shouted alt-Blossom. All four of them dashed out from their hiding place and circled the two groups. "We've got you surrounded! Give yourselves up!"

Freddie and his boys pulled out their guns, "I don't think so...let 'em have it, boys!" They opened fire on the girls, who quickly dove for cover, except for Blossom. Since they missed all the other girls, they swung their weapons around and aimed them at Blossom.

Bubbles called out from her covered spot, "Blossom! Look out!"

"Why?" Blossom asked, "I thought bullets can't hurt--" Then she broke off, as she noticed that the guns weren't normal guns. On the side of each of them, a small vial was attached. _I don't know what that is, but it can't be good!_ She quickly flew to one side with a shout as a hail of bullets shot past her, cutting through the treetops. She took cover with the other girls. "What are they using?"

Alt-Blossom quickly explained, "Mojo Jojo built those weapons for them...each bullet is injected with a very small amount of Antidote X. It's not much...it won't make us lose our powers or anything, but the bullets can actually hurt us."

"Whew!" Blossom wiped her forehead. "It's a good thing you warned me! I would have been Swiss cheese if I had stayed out there." A bullet ricocheted off the tree they were hiding behind, and Blossom flinched, "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," alt-Blossom said, "I'm thinking..."

Bubbles pointed, "Look, they're running away!" Sure enough, Freddie and his boys jumped into a nearby parked car and started driving away. The other group got in their own car and drove off in the other direction. At that moment, sirens sounded, and the police poured into the area, blocking off their escape routes.

Buttercup grinned. "Well, at least the police can take care of it from here. Let's go..."

Alt-Blossom stopped her, "No wait...I'd like to find out what was in that box, come on." They flew over to the nearest police car. The officers were just placing the handcuffs on Freddie and his boys. "Good job, officers! Now then, Freddie, let's see what it was you were fencing _this_ time..."

They crowded around the box. Blossom was in the back, and couldn't see anything, so she flew up well above the box to get a better look. As she did, she noticed something strange. All of Freddie's boys took a deep breath and held it. Blossom shouted, "Wait, something's--" but it was too late.

Buttercup opened the box, and suddenly a cloud of green gas sprayed out at the girls, and the cops. They coughed a few times and tried to back away, but passed out instead. In that instant, Freddie's boys knocked over the nearest cop and took the keys to their cuffs from him. Freed once again, they ran off into the park. Freddie spoke into his watch as he ran, "Part one completed! Proceed with part two!" They disappeared into the trees.

As the gas cleared, Blossom was still hovering above the box. She was holding her breath, and her eyes were pinched shut. She opened them again, and looked around. Freddie was nowhere in sight. The police officers were unconscious, and worse, so were the other girls. She flew down by alt-Bubbles and shook her, "Blossom! Come on, wake up!" There was no response. They were out cold.

Blossom thought for a few moments, and said to herself, "They had this planned out from the beginning...what are they up to? They want to keep us busy, maybe to pull some big job, or..." She gasped, and flew off quickly, suddenly sure of their next target...

**********

Alt-professor had gone down to the lab, leaving the professor to wander about the house. He had stopped to look at several photographs of the girls. They were different from the ones in his house, but not by very much. _Fascinating_, he thought. _Despite outward physical changes, events still progress along similar paths...I'm sure there's a paper or theorem in this..._

The doorbell interrupted his thoughts. He looked back towards the lab, thinking, _Hmm, he must not have heard. Oh well, what's the harm if I answer the door? It's not like I don't live here..._ He walked over to the door and swung it open, saying, "Yes? Can I help you?"

He suddenly took a step back. Five figures stood before the door. He recognized them instantly as the Gangrene Gang, but they were dressed in pinstripe suits and fedoras. He started to close the door, but Ace stopped him, "Hey...Professor Utonium, right?"

"Uhh...wh-what do you want?" the professor stammered.

"Oh, nothin'...we was just in the neighborhood, and thought we'd stop by ta see how yous was doin', weren't we, boys?"

Little Arturo said, "Yah, Ace! We was just in the neighborhood!"

"That's what I thought." The gang pushed their way past the professor, walking into the room. "Hey, nice place ya got here." Big Billy managed to squeeze through the door, taking part of the door frame with him. "Oh, ya know, there _is_ something we was supposed ta do...Professor, we come ta offer yous a deal."

The professor fidgeted, "Well...uh...what...what did you have in mind?"

Ace studied the picture on the wall that the professor was looking at before. "Well, ya see...our employer, Mr. Bossman, wants ya ta join his...'family', shall we say..." He rose an eyebrow, "Cute pic, by the way."

"There's no way I'm going to side with _them_!" The professor frowned, folding his arms, "And there's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind about it either. Now, if you don't mind, I want you to leave my house at once."

Ace grinned, and looked over at the others, "Hey, boys...did that sound like a threat to yous?"

There were nods all around. Little Arturo added, "Yah! It was a threat all right, boss!"

The professor waved his hands, "Now wait a minute...I didn't..." Big Billy's hand came down on his shoulder, lifting him off the ground. He struggled, but couldn't get free. As he struggled, the HCMD fell out of his pocket.

Little Arturo picked it up, "Hey, Ace! Look at this!"

Ace took it from him and examined it, "Well, well, well...what have we here?"

The professor exclaimed, "Nothing, it's just...uh, nothing, really..."

"Really. Well, we'll just take it back and find out for ourselves what it does, then. Okay, boys, let's go..." He stuck an envelope partly behind the picture hanging on the wall and walked out the door. The gang followed him, dragging the professor with them.

**********

Blossom knew something was wrong when she showed up at the house. The front door looked like it had been smashed open. She flew down and called through the door, "Hello? Professor?" There was no answer.

As she came inside, she noticed things were scuffed up and beaten. "What happened in here?" She shouted again, "Professor! Are you here?"

There was a sound of a door opening in the kitchen, and alt-Professor came into view. "I'm sorry," he explained, "I was working in the lab and..." He stopped in his tracks, when he saw the mess. "What on Earth happened in here? And where are the girls? And _your_ Professor?"

"The girls were knocked out in the park by sleeping gas..." Seeing the concerned look on alt-Professor's face, she added, "Don't worry, they'll be okay. But the Professor...I mean, the _our_ professor...I thought _you_ might know; didn't you hear anything?"

"Not a thing," he confessed. "I was working, and it gets pretty loud down there." He spotted the envelope sticking out from behind the picture on the wall, and rose an eyebrow quizzically. He pulled it free, opened it up, and read the letter inside.

Blossom asked, "What does it say?"

Alt-Professor "It says, 'Dear Girls...by the time you read this message, your professor will be with us! You'll never rescue him!' I think he took your Professor hostage!"

Blossom's hands flew to her mouth, "Oh no! I'll bet they thought he was _you_!"

"Well, technically, he..."

"We've got to rescue him! Listen, I think I figured it out; they planned this out carefully from the start." She quickly explained, "First, they set a trap for the PowerPuff Girls, knocking them out long enough to try and capture _you_! Whatever they're trying to do, their schemes rely on the girls being asleep for a while first."

"So you mean..."

"Yes! They don't know about me, so if I hurry, I can still stop their plans!" She started flying out of the door, "You stay here...as long as they think there's only one of you, they won't return. I'll be back as soon as I can!"

"Sounds fair. One more thing," he said, tossing a vial over to Blossom, who caught it. "They've used that sleeping gas on the girls before, so I developed this chemical that will reverse its effects."

"Thanks, Professor. Wish me luck!"

"All right...be careful, Blossom!" Alt-Professor waved as she left. Blossom took a last glance behind her as she sped off towards the city. _I'm all alone on this one, _she thought. _I really wish the other girls were here..._

**********

Back in the other dimension, Bubbles flew quickly between three pots that were boiling on the stove, stirring and adding ingredients. She wiped her forehead, "Whew!"

"Hey!" Buttercup shouted from the other room, "When are you going to finish dinner? I don't want to wait all day, you know..."

"Almost ready!" Bubbles called back. Behind her, a pot started boiling over, spilling rice out over the stove and onto the floor. She turned around and gasped. "Oh, no..."

Buttercup floated in, "What's taking so long...hey, what the...?" She looked at the mess in the kitchen, and exclaimed angrily, "Bubbles, can't you do anything right? Look at the mess you made! Now you're going to have to clean all of this up..." As Buttercup continued to ramble on, Bubbles clenched her eyes shut, gritting her teeth and not hearing most of it. Buttercup finished, "...and now I'm not going to get any dinner, either!"

Bubbles said quietly, "You want dinner? _Fine_!" She picked one of the pots off the stove and flung its contents at Buttercup. The soup splashed on her, soaking and covering her with sliced vegetables. Buttercup hovered quietly for a moment, before saying, "That's it..._c'mon_!" The two began picking up whatever they could get their hands on and throwing it at each other...

**********

Professor Utonium was led to a dark room. Only Ace accompanied him; the other Gangrene Gang members stayed outside. As he crossed the room towards the desk on the other side, a voice spoke up, "Professor Utonium...welcome! Come in and take a seat. We've got some talking to do, see?"

The professor sat in the only other chair in the room. His eyes darted around...besides the door he came in, and the window behind the desk with closed blinds, there was no other way out of the room. He spied someone else standing in the corner, in the shadows, watching quietly.

The chair behind the desk swiveled around. Bossman, leader of the Amoeba Boys, was seated there, a fedora on his head as usual. At his sides, Slim and Tiny Jr. stood silently. Bossman looked at them, and nodded. "My boys and I have been meaning ta discuss something with ya. I hope Ace and _his_ boys didn't startle ya _too_ much."

"What do you want?" the professor demanded.

"Patience, all in good time. Ace! I understand ya found something interesting on our friend here?" Ace nodded, and reached out, setting the HCMD on the table. Bossman leaned forward and examined the strange flashing device closely. "Not bad, not bad...so, Utonium, what does it do?"

"It's...nothing spectacular, just an unfinished experiment."

"Unfinished, eh?" His eyes narrowed dangerously, "I don't buy that. It's not like ya ta leave _any_ experiment unfinished." Slim and Tiny Jr. produced small weapons as Bossman spoke. "Now speak up, or _you'll _be the one who's finished."

"If you do anything to me, you'll never find out." The professor folded his arms defiantly.

Bossman just laughed, "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be cooperative, see? So I brought in my own expert..." He motioned over at the figure in the corner, who stepped forward into the light.

The professor gasped, "Mojo Jojo!"

It was indeed Mojo. He walked over calmly, taunting, "Hello again, Professor. It is so nice to see you as always. Now, let us have a look at this device, shall we?" He inspected the HCMD closely, and said, "Hmm...spatial tuning system...directional particle acceleration...if I didn't know better...yesss!"

"Well? What is it?" Bossman demanded.

"This device opens doorways to other dimensions! It creates portals into alternate realities!" The professor cringed; he had hoped that Mojo wouldn't be able to figure it out so quickly.

"Hmm..." Bossman's chair swiveled around, the back facing them once more. He pondered, "If I used that thing, I could travel ta other worlds...I could build an even bigger crime network! Bigger than the one we've got now! We'd have unlimited resources!" He spun the chair back around again, "In any case, Mojo can figure out how it works, so we don't need ya anymore! Ace, you know what ta do."

Ace nodded, and began taking the Professor out of the room, when suddenly, there was a loud crash, as one of the walls exploded inwards. Blossom hovered there in the hole that was left, "Not so fast, Amoeba Boys!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Bossman exclaimed, surprised to see one of the girls awake. He glared at Mojo, "You said that the sleeping gas would keep them out for hours!"

"But...but..." Mojo began.

"Never mind, you idiot! Just stop her!"

The door opened, and the rest of the Gangrene Gang entered, weapons at the ready. They all trained their weapons on Blossom, who froze, noticing the Antidote X vials attached to the sides. She slowly raised her hands, "Don't shoot...I give up..."

Bossman got out of his chair and slid across the room. "Smart move, sister." He grinned, and remarked, "Nice bow. Makes ya look real cute. Ain't that right, boys?"

Tiny Jr. spoke up, "Sure, boss! Just like a little bunny!"

Slim added, "Yeah...an' I do believe it's huntin' season."

Ace and Mojo chortled, while Bossman moved up almost face-to-face with Blossom and glared at her. "Ya must have realized by now that ya can't possibly stop us. We're going ta do away with you and the other girls, _and_ the professor here. Then, Townsville will be all ours! No one can stop us now, see?"

Blossom stared him right back in the face...and slowly smiled, "No one, you say?"

All at once, the other four walls of the room crashed open, and the three PowerPuff Girls of _this_ dimension dashed in. Without laying a single finger on anyone, they zipped through the room, and in an instant had collected all the weapons from everyone.

Ace looked down at his empty hands and said, "What the...!"

Mojo was surprised as well, "_Four_ of them?!"

"Let's get outta here!" Little Arturo and Tiny Jr. shouted at the same time.

Everyone scattered, but the girls blocked off their escape. "Not so fast," said alt-Blossom, crushing the weapons she collected in her hands, "This time, you're going to prison, for good!"

Bossman looked between the two Blossoms for a moment, momentarily confused, but then his expression became smug once again. "Ha!" he shouted, "Ya can't pin a thing on us, and ya _know_ it!"

"Maybe _they_ can't, but _I_ can." said the Professor. He reached into his ear and pulled out a tiny device. "I almost forgot that I had this microphone. I knew it would come in handy in one way or another." He clicked a button on it, and Bossman's voice played back, "...I could build an even bigger crime network! Bigger than the one we've got now!..." He sped the recording forward, "... We're going ta do away with you and the other girls, _and_ the professor here. Then, Townsville will be all ours!..."

Tiny Jr. yelped, "He was wired, boss! What do we do now?"

Bossman frowned, sliding back slowly, and said, "You girls really think you've outsmarted us, haven't you? Well, we ain't licked yet..." He suddenly slammed a button on the desk, "There! I've just started the timer on eight mini nuclear bombs hidden across Townsville! In one hour, Townsville is history! Once me and my boys are safely out of the city, we'll tell ya where they're at...but only if ya let us go. And don't follow us either, or you can kiss Townsville goodbye!"

Blossom frowned. _These Amoeba Boys are way more organized than ours,_ she thought. "Let them go, girls."

"But, we can't just..." Buttercup protested.

"We _have_ to. We have no choice." She hung her head, "Let them go."

The girls moved aside, and everyone slowly moved out of the room. "So long, Girls!" Bossman taunted, "It's been nice knowing ya, but then again...no it hasn't." He laughed, and slammed the door shut behind him.

"_Now_ what do we do?" Buttercup huffed. "Just sit around and wait until the city blows up?"

Alt-Blossom shook her fists in the air, "Oh man, I should have seen this coming; it's just like them to have a backup plan. Well, we'd better get back home and wait for..."

"Great Scott!" The professor's sudden outburst made them all turn their heads. "The HCMD! It's gone...they took it with them!" Sure enough, it was no longer sitting on the desk where it was before.

"Oh no..." Blossom exclaimed. "Without it, we can't get back! And the Amoeba Boys will use it to create an unstoppable network of crime! This is not good..."

**********

Meanwhile, back in the other dimension, the dust was finally settling. The house was a complete mess; broken furniture everywhere, torn-up wallpaper, various types of food covering everything. Bubbles and Buttercup had finally calmed down, and were both hovering there silently, looking at it. Bubbles finally spoke up, "The professor's gonna kill us..."

"I know," Buttercup said. "What are we going to do?"

Bubbles thought for a moment, then shot out of the room, returning with two brooms, "Looks like we clean up!"

"Huh? No way, not me."

"But you did it too!" Bubbles insisted, her voice raising in pitch as she spoke, "And besides, if you don't help me, I'm gonna tell the professor that it was all your fault, because it was, and you're going to get in the worst trouble because you were in charge and..."

"All right, all right!" Buttercup shouted. She took one of the brooms, "Let's just get started, already. We need to make this place look exactly like it did before..."

**********

The six of them gathered back at the Utonium residence. Although their 24 hours of being in the dimension had already elapsed, Blossom and the Professor were unable to do anything about it. The girls sat by the phone, waiting for the Amoeba Boys to call. While this was going on, alt-Professor had returned to his lab, and the professor was at the table, frantically putting a device together. _This is a disaster,_ he thought. _We're going to end up stuck here, in a city that's about to explode, while Bubbles and Buttercup back home are going to be all alone. If only there was something we could do!_

"If only there was something we could do..." Bubbles sobbed.

"What _can_ we do?" alt-Blossom asked. "We'd never be able to find those bombs in time, even if we had _ten_ hours to search." She looked at the clock; there were only 5 minutes left before the bombs went off. "Let's face it, the Amoeba Boys outsmarted us once again."

The professor said, "If I can just finish this scanner in time, we may be able to locate where the bombs are hidden by picking up the distinctive radiation fields they give off." He stopped tinkering with the device, and looked back at the lab, scratching his head, "You know, girls, with all that's going on, I wonder what h-...what I'm up to in there. Your professor has been working all day on someth--"

The professor never had time to complete that thought, because at that moment, the phone rang. Alt-Blossom quickly scooped up the phone, "Amoeba Boys?" She listened for a few moments, "All right, you got what you asked for, now deactivate those bombs." Another pause. "What?! We had a deal, Bossman!" She suddenly looked alarmed. "No wait, don't hang..." She hesitated, then slowly hung up the phone.

"What happened?" Buttercup asked.

"They...they're just going to let the bombs blow up..." She was still a little shocked, "And...there's 4 minutes left now...there's nothing...we can do...."

Everyone fell silent, contemplating the hopelessness of the situation. Then the professor called out, "It's done!" and switched on the device, "If it works, this will tell us exactly where the explosives are!"

A map of Townsville appeared on the device's screen, and was superimposed with several small flickering dots, eight of them total. The girls flew over quickly and examined the map. Alt-Blossom shouted, "All right, Professor!" then quickly ordered, "Okay...I think we have enough time for each of us to disarm two, but we've got to hurry! Thank goodness there's four of us. Now let's move!"

All four of them blasted out of the house as quickly as possible. The professor watched the device anxiously as the time ticked away.

Three minutes remaining...

Two minutes remaining...

Almost all at once, four of the dots disappeared from the scanner. The professor smiled. _They're doing it! _he thought. _Hurry, girls, hurry! You still have four left..._

As the next minute passed, three of the blips disappeared, but a fourth remained. The professor bit his lip as he watched the remaining seconds slowly tick away...

5...

4...

3...

2... Suddenly, the blip disappeared.

The professor breathed a sigh of relief. _They did it,_ he thought. While he began to relax, his scanner blipped a few more times, as an extremely odd reading showed up. It was centered well outside of Townsville. _Hmm, this can't be right...this pattern is familiar...it looks like...Great Scott! It can't be..._

**********

Back in the other dimension, well outside of Townsville, there was a spark of electricity, and a vortex opened up. The Amoeba Boys emerged, carrying the HCMD. Bossman took a look around and said, "Yeah! A fresh new world for us ta start from scratch!" He looked out at Townsville in the distance, and said, "Let's move, boys. Soon, Townsville will be ours once again! And I know just where ta start..."

**********

The house was looking a lot better now. Bubbles and Buttercup went over the house several times to make sure everything was back in its original condition. Now, after all their work, they stepped back to take a look. "Not bad, if I do say so myself..." Buttercup remarked.

"I can't believe it's the same house." Bubbles wiped her forehead, "Whew, that was hard work!"

"Look, Bubbles..." Buttercup scratched her head, "I'm sorry about bossing you around. You, uh, you can spend the rest of the night watching TV if you want..."

"Yay!" Bubbles flew over and landed in front of the television. Buttercup was just about to join her, when she heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!" she called out. She flew over and answered the door, and frowned at what she saw, "Oh...the Amoeba Boys... what are _you_ doing here?"

Bossman, flanked by his cronies, grinned and said, "Listen up, Buttercup...me and my boys are gonna _own_ this city, and we came ta offer ya a deal..."

Buttercup rolled her eyes, "Sure...whatever. Listen, it's late. How about if I just _pretend_ you committed a crime so I can beat you up right now and get it over with?"

"What?" Bossman said, "No, you don't unde---" Buttercup interrupted him with a punch to the face, causing him to stumble backwards. With two swift kicks, she punted Slim and Tiny Jr. off into the distance. She finally picked Bossman up, twirled him around, and threw him off towards the others.

Dusting her hands off, she turned around and went back into the house. What she didn't notice was a small, crushed pile of electronics lying on the ground near where Bossman was first punched. The lights on the HCMD flickered a few times, then faded out.

**********

"Are you sure, Professor?"

The girls had gathered back at the house, relieved to have stopped the mini nuclear bombs before they went off, but were disturbed to hear the professor's news. He answered Blossom's question, "I'm positive. The energy pattern I read on the scanner could only have been created by the HCMD. The Amoeba Boys must have used it already."

"But that means we're stuck here."

"I'm afraid so."

The other girls surrounded Blossom to console her. She wiped a tear from her eye, "We won't get to see our Bubbles or Buttercup again...or our Townsville..."

They all became silent, but only for a brief time, because then the silence was broken, as the door to the professor's lab slammed open. Alt-Professor stood there, and said, "It's finally completed!"

Alt-Blossom looked over, surprised, "What is?"

He walked across the room and grabbed the professor's hand, shaking it, "Thanks to your instructions, I was able to complete my work on this..." He held out his free hand, which was holding a device...

"The Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device!" The professor took it from his hand and examined it, "It's perfect! Identical to the original! Incredible, professor! How _do_ you do it?"

"Well," he said modestly, "when you're a genius..."

"True, very true." Both of them laughed together.

Blossom, in the meantime, was overjoyed. The others congratulated her. Alt-Blossom said, "Well, it's been fun. You two had better get back, though."

Bubbles added, "We'll miss you!"

"So will I, girls..." the Professor responded. They got together for one last group hug. Raising the HCMD, the professor re-opened the vortex back to their dimension. "Bye!" all of them shouted. A moment later, the two of them disappeared into the vortex. It closed up behind them...

**********

They emerged back in their own house. Blossom smiled, "Ahh, it's good to be back! That was interesting, Professor; we'll have to go again sometime!"

"Anytime you'd like to go is all right with me, Blossom." He paused and looked around. "Hmm..."

"What is it?"

"Something's not quite right here." He walked over to the wall and touched it, "It looks like this wallpaper's been freshly placed. And everything's moved around..."

"Maybe we're in the wrong dimension."

"No, the readings on the HCMD are correct..." He fiddled with it, and still got the same readouts, "There, you see? We're in the right place, all right. Something's just...different..."

A voice rang out, "They're back!" It came from Bubbles, who had just entered from one of the adjoining rooms. An instant later, Buttercup appeared next to her.

"Girls! It's great to see you again!" Blossom exclaimed. They all gathered together in a hug.

"Buttercup, well done!" the professor said. "You obviously handled the responsibility of being in charge.. I'm glad I could count on you!"

"Of course I did!" Buttercup replied confidently. "Bloss isn't the only one who can lead, you know."

"So I see...did anything unusual happen while I was gone?"

"No, not really. Oh, the Amoeba Boys dropped by, but I got rid of them."

"The Amoeba Boys?" Blossom glanced at the professor. _Did they end up here?_ she thought. "What did they want?"

"Oh, the usual."

Bubbles added, "They might come back, 'cause they dropped something...I found it outside." She raised a handful of electronic components.

The professor instantly recognized it as the remains of the HCMD, and was relieved, along with Blossom. _At least they won't be going anywhere, _he thought. Returning to his previous thoughts, he gave Buttercup a stern look, "And that's _all_ that happened while we were gone?"

"Yeah, that's it," she replied, a little nervously. "Right, Bubbles?"

"Right!" Bubbles agreed.

"Mmm hmm," said the professor, not convinced. "And the walls?"

"Uhh, well...heh..." Buttercup smiled a little guiltily.

"That's okay, Buttercup," the professor said. "You don't have to explain, as long as everything's back in it's original condition." Buttercup gave a sigh of relief, but the professor added, "Just don't let it happen again, okay?" She nodded.

As the girls flew out of the room, Blossom asked, "So what happened to the Amoeba Boys?"

"Hopefully," Buttercup answered, "they've left town by now."

**********

Off a ways from the Utonium residence, the Amoeba Boys picked themselves back up. Tiny Jr. asked, "Well, now what, Boss?"

Bossman sighed, "I've had it with Townsville. Let's just forget about the whole thing. Those stinkin' PowerPuff Girls'll never get off our backs. Besides," he added, as they began walking off, "I know a better place, where we can lay low for a while..." They slowly made their way off into the horizon, towards the town of Citiesville...

**__**

THE END...more to come!


	3. Lost Mojo

PPGADestiny3 **__**

EXCURSION 3 - "Lost Mojo"

By: Mark J. Hadley

In the center of Townsville park, inside his volcano-top observatory, Mojo Jojo woke up, and yawned. Standing sleepily out of his bed, he made his way to the bathroom, climbing into the shower. As he turned on the water, he punched a button on a computer console nearby, and said, "Begin recording. List of things to do today. Number one: eat breakfast. Nutritional supplement most important in the morning. Number two: read newspaper. Must keep up on current events. Number three: begin work on plans for Robo-Jojo mark-12. Remember to add class-9 lasers this time. Number four: go to supermarket..."

His speech was interrupted by a loud beeping sound in the other room. Peering out from the shower, he sighed in frustration. "To be continued..." he grunted, and punched the pause button. Throwing a towel around himself, he got out of the shower and headed off to the other room, grumbling, "Must remember to place alert systems on standby when taking showers..."

He peered at a computer console in the next room very closely. Once again, just like several dozen other times in the past few weeks, his instruments had picked up a strange phenomenon. He was determined to find the source of these disturbances and, if it can benefit him, how to control it. This latest set of data most intrigued him, since he began to see a pattern with the phenomenon.

"Let's see..." he muttered to himself, pulling up a map of Townsville on the screen and marking spots on it, "Disturbance one...date and time...coordinates...Disturbance two...date, time, coordinates....Disturbance three, et cetera, et cetera..."

As he marked them off on the map, he stepped back and examined his findings. "Hmm, they seem to be confined within a small area. Each disturbance is very close to the next. Therefore, they all have something in common...except for this one far outside the town, but that is the exception! The disturbances, being close to one another, must come from a common source."

He hit a few buttons, and the map zoomed in to the spot. All of the disturbances seemed to be centered on a single house...the Utonium household. Mojo narrowed his eyes, "Yess...what have you been up to, Professor Utonium? What have you been building now? I will just have to pay you a house call tonight to find out...so speaks Mojo Jojo!" He waved his arms in the air near the end of his speech. Then, clutching the towel around his waist, he turned and walked out of the room, muttering, "But first, I must complete my shower."

********

In the professor's lab, a vortex opened up. The professor and Buttercup emerged from it just before it sealed up behind them. Buttercup's arms were folded across her chest, and she huffed, "Man, that was boring!"

"Now, Buttercup," the professor explained, setting the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device down on a table, "We can't expect _all _of these visits to be exciting. In fact, it is much more mathematically likely that they will _not_ be."

"Yeah, but come _on_, already!" Buttercup waved her arms. "That place was dull! There wasn't _any_ kind of action going on!"

"I have to disagree. I had the most stimulating conversations about quantum mechanics and..."

"Exactly! All they talk about is science stuff!"

"Well, in a culture where higher learning is the norm, you'd have to expect that."

Buttercup sighed in frustration, "Let's just forget about it...I'm glad to be back, finally." Both of them climbed up the stairway and left the lab. The professor paused and clicked off the lights just before stepping out.

Many hours passed, until it was nighttime. The house was now completely dark, as everyone had gone to sleep. But there was still movement. The door to the professor's lab swung open, and a shadowy figure crept stealthily in. He examined each table carefully, and finally hesitated at the table where the HCMD lay...scooping it up, he quickly retraced its steps out of the house, snickering.

********

Back at the observatory, Mojo slammed the door behind him, and held the HCMD up over his head, shouting, "Finally, I have it! I have stolen the device from the professor! It is now in _my_ possession. The professor no longer owns it, as I have taken it from him! Now, to examine this device, being mine and _not_ the professor's, to discover its primary function, that I may learn what it does!"

He walked over and set it down on the table, peering carefully at it, "Hmm...spatial tuning system...directional particle acceleration...if I didn't know better...yesss!" He double-checked his findings, and was convinced. "This device opens doorways to other dimensions! It creates portals into alternate realities!"

He thought about the possibilities, "Hmm...perhaps I can find a dimension where the PowerPuff Girls have been defeated--by me, of course--so that I can find out how I did it. Yes! This will finally spell the end of the PowerPuff Girls!" Tuning the device to a new dimension, he clicked the button.

Nothing happened.

He glanced at the screen quizzically. That's when he noticed the 'recharging' message. "Oh well. I will have to postpone my trip until tomorrow, then. Now, I will retire for some well-deserved sleep! Your days are numbered, PowerPuff Girls! Muahahahaha!"

********

The next day, the girls were doing a search throughout the Utonium household. Blossom looked behind a set of throw pillows on the couch, "It's not under here..."

Buttercup went through the cupboards in the kitchen, "Not in here."

Bubbles moved one of the pictures hanging on the wall, "It's not behind here!" Blossom and Buttercup stared at her, and she shrugged, "Well, it _could_ have been."

The professor emerged from the lab, "I searched the lab, and I can't find it anywhere. I'm _certain_ I left the HCMD sitting on the table. What could have happened to it?"

Blossom thought about it for a moment, then spotted something, "Professor, look..." She flew over to the door, and picked something up off the ground. It was a hair. "I think someone was here last night..."

The other girls gathered around to look at it. Buttercup remarked, "I know that hair...it looks just like one of Mojo's!"

"I think you're right!" Blossom agreed. "He must have stolen the device." She glanced at a clock on the wall, and gasped. "It's been twenty-four hours! Let's move, girls! We have to stop him before he tries to use it!"

********

At the observatory, Mojo was just finishing the final touches on the device, tuning it to a new location. "At last! The new location has been set, and I am ready to make my journey! Now, if I am correct about this, I only need to press this button here."

Pressing the button on the HCMD, a large spark of electricity leapt out from the device, opening a swirling vortex before him. "Yesss! It works! It works!" He took a few steps towards it.

The roof to his observatory suddenly crashed open. Mojo spun around to see what was going on, although he already knew all too well. As the dust cleared, he saw the PowerPuff Girls hovering in the hole they created.

"Not so fast..." Blossom began.

"...Mojo..." Buttercup continued.

"...Jojo!" Bubbles finished.

Mojo rolled his eyes, "Oh puh-leeze, girls! Can you not think of something new to say? _Every_time it's always, 'Not so fast,' then 'Mojo', then 'Jojo'. One of your powers must be monotony."

Buttercup spotted the swirling vortex, which wasn't difficult, since it cast rays of light across the room. "We were right!" she exclaimed, pointing at it, "He _did _take the professor's device!"

"Aha! But you are too late, girls! For I am already using it! And I will return with new technology and resources that I will use to destroy you three _once and for all!_" With that, he jumped into the vortex.

"After him, girls!" Blossom shouted. They charged towards the vortex, but it sealed up just before they reached it. The three of them stared at the spot were it was a few moments before. Blossom shook her head, "Oh no...this is not good."

"What do we do now?" Bubbles asked.

"Wait until he comes back. That's all we _can_ do." Buttercup said. They all waited silently, each of them imagining the horrible things that Mojo might bring back with him...

********

Mojo peered out from the vortex, and exclaimed, "I have made it! A new dimension, with new possibilities...and new ways to destroy the PowerPuff Girls!" He stepped completely out of the vortex.

Unfortunately, he stepped out into midair.

The observatory was completely gone; looming dangerously below him was the volcano that it once sat on. Mojo barely had time to notice his surroundings before the vortex sealed up behind him, and he fell like a stone. With a shout, he managed to catch hold of the volcano's rim.

Hanging there, above the lava, he asked aloud, "What? Where is my hideout? Curses...in the future, I must consider that things may not be exactly the same between dimensions, that even small changes can bring drastic consequences." He pulled himself up and dusted his suit off, then began climbing down the side of the volcano.

At the bottom, he looked back up and scratched his head, "Why did I not build my hideout here? Did I find a better place? A more suitable location from which to wage my war against the PowerPuff Girls?" He paused, and smiled slowly as another thought came to him. "No, even better...perhaps I live at Town Hall! The city could already be mine!" He started walking towards the center of Townsville, eager to meet his alter ego.

As he walked down the street, passerbies saw him, but instead of backing away in fear, they waved at him. Mojo rose an eyebrow quizzically, as he continued walking. Another citizen passed by him, and said, "Hello, Mojo Jojo! Top of the morning to ya!"

"Wha...uhh...good day to you, too?" he answered. The man smiled and kept walking. Mojo was now thoroughly confused. "They do not fear me?" he muttered. "Hmm, perhaps they have accepted my rule...or perhaps..."

He didn't have long to ponder over these thoughts, as an alarm rang from the bank across the street. A group of thugs, each carrying a large sack of money, burst out from the bank. Mojo watched as they began to run off down the street.

Then, suddenly, in a flash of light, three forms dashed into the area from the sky. The PowerPuff Girls, still the same as ever, now hovered above the street. Blossom shouted, "Give it up, criminals! We have you surrounded!"

Mojo yelped, and even though they weren't watching him, he ducked safely into an alley to watch. He muttered, "The girls are still around...then, they have not yet been defeated! This trip is not turning out as I had planned. What could have gone wrong? Why has my counterpart not yet defeated them?"

One of the thugs pulled a grenade from his jacket, and flung it towards the nearest building. With a loud explosion, the entire building began toppling over. Blossom shouted, "Quick! Catch it!" All three of the girls flew over and tried to slow the building's fall, but they were having a difficult time of it.

The thugs, in the meantime, ran the opposite way down the street, and it looked like they were going to get away, when suddenly a beam of purple energy shot out from the sky. The energy surrounded them, freezing them in place. Someone descended from out of the clouds slowly towards the street.

Mojo was shocked as the figure became visible. It was...Mojo Jojo! Strapped to his back was a jetpack, and in his arms was a large laser cannon, which was producing the purple energy beam that was holding the thugs in place. The alternate Mojo descended and landed on the street, while the girls propped the fallen building back up.

The girls flew over to alt-Mojo. Buttercup called out, "Way to go, Mojo! Couldn't have done it without you!"

"Of course!" alt-Mojo replied, "We're a team. I also commend you on the excellent save of that building."

Bubbles giggled, "Aw, it was nothing! Lets just take these bad guys to jail, ok?"

Alt-Mojo grinned, "Okie-dokie, girls!"

Mojo, from the alley, watched with absolute shock. "Wh--...This cannot be! I, Mojo Jojo, the greatest villain who ever lived, am _helping _those accursed girls? I am not destroying them, but rather, assisting them in fighting crime?" He slammed his fists on the alley wall, "No! How could this have happened?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Perhaps I need to investigate this matter further..." He slipped deeper into the alley, away from the street...

********

At the Utonium household, no one was home. Mojo had no difficulty in breaking in, just the same as he had before in his own dimension. As he entered the house, he noticed that, although most of it was the same, there were a few minor differences. The photographs hanging on the walls, which usually had pictures of the professor and the girls, now included himself in the picture. He also noticed that one of the side rooms, which had formerly been a den, now had a nameplate on the door: 'Mojo Jojo'. There was also an extra chair at the table in the kitchen.

"I must live here, with the girls," he muttered, "But why? I do not like the girls, and I do not think I ever _would _like them. The same can be said for them liking me." He spotted the door to the professor's lab, still in the same place. Opening this door, he continued down the steps.

The lab had a lot more equipment in it. Not just the professor's, but also a number of other devices. He examined these devices closely. "I know this style," he remarked. "Only a genius of my caliber would construct mechanisms using this technique, a true artist."

Something else suddenly caught his attention. A journal, sitting on the desk nearby. Flipping it open, he saw that it belonged to the professor. He turned back to the beginning and thumbed through some pages, reading carefully:

__

...I decided that the proportions were finally correct, so I mixed the ingredients together for the perfect little girls. After adding the sugar, spice, and everything nice, my faithful lab monkey Jojo had climbed up on the table to get a closer look, when he lost his balance, accidentally leaning into the beaker containing the Chemical X! The beaker broke, and its contents spilled into the mixture. There must have been some kind of reaction to the chemical, because in the next instant, it exploded, throwing both Jojo and myself against the back wall of the lab. Once I came to, I saw them...the three perfect little girls! My formula had worked! But they were hovering in the air...I could only assume that the reaction with Chemical X had somehow imbued them with amazing abilities. And they weren't the only ones: Jojo seemed to be experiencing some side effects from his proximity to the blast...

Mojo skipped forward a little bit. _It happened a little differently in this world,_ he thought. _I seem to have taken a stronger hand in things._ He read on:

__

...and after completing these tests, I realized that the girls did indeed possess superhuman abilities, such as flying, super strength, incredible agility and amazing resilience to harm. I didn't have to run any tests on Jojo to realize that he had gained superhuman levels of intelligence, because he ran those tests on himself! The girls have decided to dedicate their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil. Jojo decided to join them, and has even given himself a new name: Mojo Jojo...

Mojo slammed the journal shut. His eyes narrowed, as he spoke, "Clearly, the Mojo Jojo of this world is not evil. He does the opposite, in fact, by following the path of good! He is not worthy of the name Mojo Jojo! As I cannot stand by and watch my name be soiled any further, I must do something about it!"

He pulled out the HCMD to check the time. Still twenty hours before he could return. He grinned, and thought,_ That should be plenty of time to put my plans into action...all I need to do is avoid contact with him or the girls for the next few hours while I..._

The door to the lab opened behind him, and he spun around. Walking down the steps, neatly preventing him from executing his plan, were alt-Mojo and the Professor. They froze when they saw Mojo in their lab. The professor's pipe fell from his mouth, "What the..."

Alt-Mojo rubbed his eyes, and said, "My eyes must be playing tricks on me, Professor...I thought I saw myself across the room, when I am clearly over here and unable to be standing over there..."

Mojo sweated, "Uhhh well...I can explain..."

The professor spotted the HCMD in his hands and smiled, "There's no need to explain, Mojo Jojo. That must be the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device you're holding, correct?"

Mojo looked down at the HCMD, "I...well, yes. Yes, it is."

"And that means you've traveled from another dimension, also correct?" the professor added.

Before he could answer, alt-Mojo crossed the lab to stare at him more closely. "This is incredible. You are like an exact duplicate of me, another Mojo Jojo. We are alike in every respect!"

_Don't make me laugh, goodie-goodie,_ thought Mojo. _But, as long as you believe this to be true, I will take advantage of it!_ "Oh, we are!" Mojo agreed. "It is like we are staring into a mirror, except without the obvious difference of reversed left and right sides."

"Right on!" alt-Mojo exclaimed, thrusting his fists into the air. "Maybe we can fight crime together while you are here!"

Mojo cringed a little, but then forced a smile, "Yes, perhaps we can..." He thought, _Patience, Mojo! Just play it out...you'll have your opportunity to cause fear and panic soon enough. I have a new plan now, and this one is far better than the first plan! And seeing as the first plan was already a great plan, the second one must be unstoppable...._

********

Mojo sat uneasily at the table in the kitchen. Across from him sat the professor and alt-Mojo, and the girls were also seated to one side. He felt uncomfortable sitting in such close proximity to his greatest enemies, but he managed to hide it the best he could.

The girls seemed excited to meet him. They were even more eager to learn about Mojo's dimension. Blossom asked, "So you're saying, the PowerPuff Girls exist in your dimension, too?"

"That's right."

Buttercup asked, "What are we like in your world?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest," Mojo lied, "I adore being around you girls! You three are such the perfect little angels!" He silently bit his lip. All this niceness was _killing_ him.

Bubbles asked, "Everything's exactly the same?"

The professor rubbed his chin, "Hmm, that doesn't sound mathematically likely..."

Mojo said quickly, "Well, there _are_ some differences. But they are minor, and not to be concerned with. They are of no consequence whatsoever, and as such should be of interest to no one."

All three girls asked at the same time, "Like what?"

_Uh oh, think fast_, Mojo thought. "Ahhh..hmm...well, you, Bubbles," he said, pointing, "are very smart in my world, almost as smart as the professor or myself."

Bubbles smiled, "Really?"

"Yes, yes," Mojo said hastily. He tried to hide an evil grin as another idea came to him. "And you, Buttercup...you are the leader of the PowerPuff Girls."

Buttercup grinned, "Wow! See, Professor? I told ya I'd make good leader material." Blossom just folded her arms and glared back at her.

During almost the whole conversation, Alt-Mojo had been silent. He seemed to be studying Mojo closely. Mojo sweated a little, thinking, _Uh oh...am I clever enough to see through my own deception? Can I truly fool myself into thinking I am good instead of evil? And why am I just sitting there staring at myself? Why don't I say something? It's maddening..._

Alt-Mojo suddenly spoke up, "Perhaps I can show my alter ego the rest of the city, Professor. I am _sure_ he would be interested in seeing what else is different, correct?"

Mojo grinned sheepishly, "That's right!"

The professor said, "Well, all right, but you two be back before dinner, you got that?" Both Mojos nodded, and headed for the door. The professor laughed, "I just know those two will get along great."

********

The two Mojo Jojos walked down the street. Alt-Mojo was pointing out various sights about the town, and talking about this and that, but Mojo wasn't listening. He was glaring at alt-Mojo, focusing on his own thoughts instead. _He is so much like me. How could he possibly have become good? I despise him, and everything he stands for, but right now I must use his ignorance against him..._

Alt-Mojo had just finished talking, "...and it was constructed almost three years ago. So, what do you think?"

Mojo forced a smile, "Oh, of course. Very fascinating." His expression became serious once more. "Look, there is something I need to discuss with you, but we need to find a quiet place to have our conversation, as we would be unable to have such a talk with any kind of distraction."

"Well," alt-Mojo said, a bit surprised, "The alleyways are quiet, thanks to the combined efforts of myself and the girls to keep the streets crime free."

"I suppose it will do. Come on." Mojo led him into an alley, and after a brief glance around to make sure no one was watching, he said, "All right, Mojo Jojo. The urgent matter I wished to discuss is your alliance with the PowerPuff Girls."

"Alliance? What do you mean? We have always worked together."

"Yes, but hear me out, my naive little doppelganger. You are a genius, with far superior intelligence to anyone on the planet, is that correct?"

"Correct..."

"And one as intelligent as you deserves to rule the world, correct?"

"Now wait a..." alt-Mojo began.

Mojo interrupted him, "You're wasting your life helping those foolish girls out! Law and order? Goodness? Please! You are destined for much more than a life of mopping up criminals, a mere puppet of the girls."

"What do you mean?'

"Well, obviously they are using you. They care not for your goals, your dreams, they only want to utilize your skills for their own purposes." Mojo grinned evilly. "I know you have dreamed of true power before. You cannot deny it."

"I...well..." Alt-Mojo pondered for a moment. "I suppose...I've...thought about it..."

"Of course you have!" Mojo waved his hands in the air, "You should do more than think about it, my friend. Your genius deserves recognition. And what better way to gain recognition from all than to _take over the world!_"

Alt-Mojo was taken aback by his words, "I could never..."

"Couldn't you?" Mojo waited for a reply.

Alt-Mojo scratched his head. Then a look dawned on his face, "I could...in fact, it would be easy...after all, there is no one that matches my exceptional brilliance..."

"Yess! That's right..."

"I could...rule the world? Yes...I could_ rule the world_!"

Mojo patted him on the back, "There is no time like the present. And you have the advantage, as the girls do not know of your new ambitions. Now, I have a plan..." As he told his plan, alt-Mojo listened carefully, and the first signs of an evil smile crossed his face...

********

The emergency hotline buzzed back at the Utonium residence. Blossom dashed over to the phone and picked it up, "Hello, Mayor? What's the trouble?"

"Girls!" the Mayor shouted at the other end of the line. "You've got to get downtown! There's a giant robot destroying Townsville!"

"We're on it, Mayor!" Blossom hung up the phone, and called out, "Trouble, girls! A giant robot's attacking the city!"

"A robot?" Buttercup frowned, "Who would have built a robot?"

"I don't know...maybe Princess Morebucks bought it. Maybe it's someone we haven't even seen yet. But we've got to stop it anyway! Let's move!"

The girls flew out of the house, towards the center of Townsville. Their target became visible as they neared City Hall. A giant, towering robot, with several tentacle-like claws, was flailing its arms around, smashing them against random buildings.

"Take out those arms first!" Blossom ordered. Bubbles and Buttercup each flew from a different direction, heading towards the spot where two of the tentacle-arms attached to the main body. Unfortunately, the tentacles coiled back around, smacking into each one of them before they could even get close. They were knocked down into the street below.

"Whoa!" Blossom exclaimed. "We could sure use Mojo's help on this one. Where could he be?"

"Right here, Blossom!" alt-Mojo descended from the sky, wearing his jetpack and carrying the immobilizer he used before. "Sorry I'm late, but I had to gather my equipment, as I would not have been any help to you at all without it."

"No problem, Mojo. Listen, that robot's going to destroy half the town unless we stop it."

"Ahh, yes," alt-Mojo said, examining the robot. "A brilliant design, if I may say so. Whoever built this must be a genius!"

Bubbles and Buttercup flew up from the street to join the two. Bubbles remarked, "Wherever it came from, it's strong."

Blossom nodded, "Yes, we have to be very careful during our next..." she trailed off. Something didn't seem right here. "Mojo, why did you bring the immobilizer? Wouldn't your laser cannon be more effective against that thing?"

Alt-Mojo waggled a finger, "Ah ah ah...don't worry about a thing, Blossom. As always, I have a plan, and the immobilizer plays a very important part in it."

The girls all looked back at the robot. Buttercup said, "Like what? I thought it only works on living things."

"It does," alt-Mojo agreed. As the girls' attentions were on the robot, alt-Mojo lifted the immobilizer and fired. A huge purple beam shot from the barrel, surrounding the girls. They were taken by surprise, and didn't even get the chance to struggle. They fell towards the ground, and alt-Mojo followed them down, keeping the beam on them. As they hit the ground, the giant robot stepped over, and picked up each one of them with a tentacle-arm.

Blossom struggled, "What's...going on? Mojo?"

Alt-Mojo lowered the cannon, now that the robot securely held the girls. He laughed, "Oh, I'm so sorry, girls. Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce my new partner...Mojo Jojo!"

The top dome of the robot slid open. Mojo emerged and bowed, "In person."

"You!" Buttercup exclaimed.

"That's right, girls!" Mojo said, swirling his cape behind him. "I have deceived you! I have pulled the wool over your eyes! In my dimension, I am not your ally...I am your greatest enemy! Your professor did not give me the dimensional travel device; I stole it from him so that I could come here and find a way to defeat you, which I have!"

Bubbles gasped, "No, that can't be! You're a good monkey, not a bad mokey..."

"That's what _you_ think! I am one hundred percent evil! I have no room for good! But even your _own_ Mojo Jojo is not good. He has helped me defeat you, so that he too can take over the world! Isn't that right, Mojo?"

Alt-Mojo hesitated, but then replied, "That's...that's right!"

"You see?" Mojo gloated, "Never could you hope to compete with Mojo's intellect times two! We are twice the evil, twice the superior brainpower! Where you had only half a chance before, it has been reduced to zero! Don't you feel sorry for trusting your ally? Too bad! If only you had the foresight to know his true intentions!"

Blossom glared at alt-Mojo, "How could you betray us? This is treachery!"

Alt-Mojo's eyes saddened slightly, a little doubt crossing his expression. "But...I only wanted to.."

"Silence!" Mojo shouted. "It is time." He hopped back into the robot, and lifted the girls into the air with the tentacle-arms. They struggled, but were unable to free themselves. "Now," he called out, "the PowerPuff Girls will be destroyed once and for all!" Energy traveled up along the tentacle arms to the end, where the girls were, electrifying them. All three of the girls screamed as the energy coursed through them.

Alt-Mojo watched this, in sudden shock. _What am I doing?_ he thought. _This is not who I am! I possess superior intelligence, but why must I use it for personal gain? No, I will not let the girls suffer from my mistake! They will not pay for my transgressions! I will not allow it!_

With that, he raised the immobilizer, flicking a hidden switch that he had kept secret up until now. The front of the barrel folded back, converting it into a high-powered laser cannon. He gave a loud shout, almost a war cry, and opened fire...the beam cut through the base of each of the tentacle-arms, slicing them off. The girls dropped away to the ground, knocked cold.

"What?!" Mojo said incredulously. "What are you doing? You meddling fool! I almost _had_ them!"

Alt-Mojo lowered the barrel, aiming it at the body of the robot, and called out, "You may think you know me, seeing as you _are_ me, but you do not. If it weren't for the girls, I would not be the respected guardian of Townsville that I am today. They would not trust their lives to me as they would to any of the girls themselves. Your foolish ambition means nothing to me! I have respect, I have family, and I would not give it up for anything, even absolute power. It may have been tempting, but I have made my decision, and my answer is no!"

"Very well," Mojo said, narrowing his eyes, "You have made your choice. You have chosen the path you wish to take, and now you must live with it. You will not be given another opportunity to realize your true potential again, as I will soon be destroying you! Where it would normally pain me to destroy myself, you are _not_ the true Mojo Jojo, and you never _will _be! Farewell, imposter!"

The robot rose up, standing tall. Weapons of all kinds started folding out of its sides...rocket launchers, lasers, blades, and an enormous shield. It tromped heavily towards alt-Mojo, who ignited his jetpack and flew up into the air. Then the two shot towards each other, battle-ready.

Alt-Mojo fired his laser cannon at the robot, but its shield swung between itself and the blast, harmlessly reflecting it. The robot opened fire back at him, but alt-Mojo deftly flew from side to side, avoiding the shots. He saw an opportunity, and shot a blast at a reflective window on the side of a building. The blast rebounded towards the back of the robot, but it saw it coming, and threw it's shield in the way at an angle, rebounding the blast back up towards Alt-Mojo, who ducked in the nick of time.

"Muahahaha!" Mojo cackled, from the controls of the robot. "You cannot outsmart me! We have equal intelligence! You are no smarter than I, and vice-versa! And since I am in command of the more powerful weapon, your defeat is imminent!" He launched two missiles at alt-Mojo, who fired his laser cannon, sweeping from left to right and destroying them both before they reached him.

He flew high above the robot and shot down at the street, carving a large circle around it out of the ground beneath. The robot leapt into the air just before the ground beneath it collapsed. It soared through the air towards alt-Mojo, blades slashing wildly. He could not back away in time, so instead, he charged, moving inside the cutting arc of the blade and landing on the top dome of the robot. He lowered the laser cannon and started carving a hole in the glass with the beam.

Mojo just grinned wickedly back at him, and punched a button on his console. The skin of the robot was suddenly electrified, and the blast knocked alt-Mojo away. The laser cannon fell from his hands and smashed onto the street below, but he managed to re-ignite his jetpack in the nick of time and pull up.

The robot landed on the ground, and Mojo called out, "Now you are harmless! You have been defeated! Your only option is to surrender, as any further fighting would be senseless, since there is no possible way now that you can defeat me."

Alt-Mojo gritted his teeth, and suddenly hit the boosters on his jetpack, flying full-speed towards the robot. This took Mojo by surprise, "What? You're charging? If sacrificing yourself is how you wish to meet your end, then so be it! What a senseless gesture." He raised the weapons, preparing to disintegrate alt-Mojo as soon as he reached him...

At the last instant, alt-Mojo unhooked the jetpack, falling away from it. The jetpack continued flying forward, faster now that it no longer carried his weight. Mojo was unprepared for this, and the jetpack smashed through the top dome of the robot, embedding itself in the control panel. It exploded violently with a loud _*KABOOOOM*_.

As the robot tottered in place, alt-Mojo fell towards the street below. With no more devices left to assist him, he clenched his eyes as the street rushed up towards him. _So this is how I meet my end_, he thought. _Saving the city from my evil alter-ego. I would have it no other way..._

Just before hitting the ground, a bright flash of light swept by. The girls, now recovered from the shock they had taken, had flown over and caught alt-Mojo at the last instant. He opened his eyes, and exclaimed, "Girls!" Behind them, the robot had finally toppled over.

Blossom smiled, landing on the street along with the rest of them, "We saw you fighting the other Mojo. I know he tricked you, but you really came through for us in the end!"

"Yeah!" Bubbles added, "You really saved the day!"

Alt-Mojo cast a glance down at his boots. "Perhaps that is true, but if it were not for my selfishness, this never would have happened. I hope you can forgive my actions, and the unthinkable things I almost did."

"We forgive you, Mojo." Buttercup replied. "Just don't do it again, ok?"

The four of them laughed. Over by the wreckage of the robot, Mojo slowly crawled out, pretty mangled up from the explosion, "Ughh...curses...." and passed out.

********

"Are you sure it's the right thing to do, Professor?"

They had gathered together at the house. The girls had tied Mojo up in a chair. The professor, in the meantime, had been adjusting the controls on the HCMD, which had finally finished recharging. He answered Blossom's question, "I think so. The Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device _was_ stolen from the professor in _his_ world, and I intend to return it to him."

Mojo glared over at alt-Mojo, standing nearby, and said, "The world would have been yours, you know. With the girls out of the way, you could have had _everything_."

Alt-Mojo answered, "I already have everything. _This_ is all that I need. I feel sorry for you, my ignorant double, since you will never know the rewards of being allied with the forces of good, but instead only know the defeat of being allied with evil. You are no real Mojo; you are a lost Mojo. You have my pity."

The professor finally finished his adjustments on the HCMD, and hit the button, opening the vortex. He tucked the device into the ropes on Mojo's chair, and the girls lifted him up. "Have a nice trip, evil Mojo," the professor said. They tossed him through...

********

Back in the other dimension, the girls sat gloomily around the kitchen table. "I can't take it anymore," Buttercup exclaimed. "Mojo'll probably be back any minute from who-knows-where, bringing who-knows-what with him."

"I hope it's not a monster," Bubbles sighed, "We fight too many monsters already."

"Well, whatever it is, girls," Blossom reassured, "We can take care of it! We just have to keep our guard up. We don't know what we're going to be dealing with, but I know _one_ thing: the coming battle won't be easy."

A flash of light suddenly filled the room, and they looked up with surprise. The vortex opened up, and suddenly, Mojo Jojo emerged, tied to a chair, the HCMD attached to the ropes. It closed up behind him. There was a stunned silence, as they stared at the helpless Mojo.

Buttercup grinned over at Blossom, "You were saying?"

Bubbles was confused, "What happened to _you_, Mojo?"

Mojo growled, "I don't want to talk about it. Just take back that infernal device; I never want to see it again, much less use it." He frowned, "And to think, I was actually thinking about _staying_ there. What an error."

"Ok, girls, let's take him to jail." Blossom ordered. As Bubbles picked up the chair Mojo was in, Blossom took the HCMD out from the ropes. "You know what, girls? I'm actually glad he _didn't_ decide to stay. Things would have gotten pretty dull around here."

"Nah, he wasn't gonna stay," Buttercup added, tugging his ropes a little tighter, "You might say he was _bound_ to come back."

Mojo frowned, "Oh, shut up."

**__**

THE END...more to come!


	4. Powerpuff's Laboratory

EXCURSION 4 - "PowerLess Girls" **__**

EXCURSION 4 - "Powerpuff's Laboratory"

By: Mark J. Hadley

Down in the lab, the professor was going over his notes, and writing on a large chalkboard. It was already mostly covered with a long list of numbers and descriptions. Each line included a separate set of cross-dimensional coordinates, along with a brief description of the world, for future reference. There were already thirty-six such entries, and the professor was just adding number thirty-seven. After writing the necessary numbers, he wrote, 'Contact w/Aliens, Interstellar Space Travel,' under the description column.

It had been an exciting past couple of months. _If I keep this up_, he thought, _I may one day be able to create a formula for accurately predicting what will be in any given dimension. I'm certain there must be a connection between their coordinates and their probabilities..._

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the lab door. "Come in!" he called out.

Bubbles opened the door, and flew down the steps, "Hi, Professor! I want to thank you for taking me on that last trip. It was cool!"

The professor smiled, "I'm glad you had a good time, sweetie. You need to be a little more careful in the future, though. Not all of these trips are fun and games, you know."

"Well, I didn't _mean_ to crash the..."

"That's all right, I know you didn't." He finished writing on the board, and turned around, "It could have been a lot worse. In fact, everything turned out all right in the end, thanks to you."

"I guess so." Bubbles looked back up at the door, "If Blossom and Buttercup were there, I woulda felt safer."

The professor glanced at his watch, "Hmm...you know, it's almost time for the next trip. I've been giving it a lot of thought, and I realize now that perhaps we should all go together on this one."

Bubbles smiled, "You mean, like a vacation?"

"I suppose you could look at it that way," the professor said, climbing the staircase. "Of course, I'll still be continuing my observations, but with you three along, I'm sure we can all relax while we're there, if even for a little bit."

Bubbles followed him up the stairs. She was obviously very excited about going. The professor thought, _Finally, I won't have to worry during at least one of these expeditions. With all of the girls with me, what could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

They gathered together outside of the house. Blossom and Buttercup had joined them, and all three of the girls were hovering anxiously by the professor as he made the preparations on the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device. Blossom asked, "Are you _sure_ Townsville will be okay without us for one day?"

"Of course I'm sure," the professor replied. "Don't forget that everyone's out of town for that big Supervillains' convention in Oklahoma."

"Yeah," Buttercup smirked, "I guess the mayor and the police can handle everything while we're gone."

"Now, before we leave," the professor said, "do you three remember the rules?"

"Sure!" Blossom said. "Rule number one: don't use any of our powers unless necessary, so we don't freak anyone out by accident."

"Rule number two:" Buttercup said, "stick together until we know what kind of dimension we're dealing with."

"Rule number three:" Bubbles said, "don't forget rule number one and two!"

"That's right...so, are you three ready?" the professor asked.

"Ready!" all three of them answered.

"Allrighty then, here we go!" Raising the HCMD, he punched the button and opened up the portal. The four of them stepped through, and it closed up behind them.

What they didn't notice was that someone was watching them from afar. Over in Townsville Park, inside the volcano-top observatory, Mojo Jojo was looking into his giant telescope. "It's working! I can hardly believe that they fell for it, although watching them leave has now convinced me that it is true."

"Of _course_ they fell for it!" said another voice. Sitting at a table nearby was Princess, and at other chairs around table were Fuzzy Lumpkins, Sedeusa, the Gangrene Gang, the Amoeba Boys, even Him. Princess continued, "When you have all the newspapers print up an advertising campaign like _I_ did, there's no _way_ they'd think that 'convention' is _anything_ but real!"

"Little did they know, it was just a trick!" Sedeusa added.

"Yes," Him said, rubbing his claws together, "and now, free of those meddlesome pests for a whole day, Townsville will be all ours!"

"Yah, all ours!" Little Arturo of the Gangrene Gang added.

"Yeah! All ours!" Tiny Jr. of the Amoeba Boys added.

Mojo thrust his fist into the air, "To battle!" Everyone cheered, and everyone left the Observatory, each heading into the city in a different direction, ready to spread their evil to the citizens of Townsville...

* * *

Professor Utonium and the girls stepped out from the portal, and it sealed up behind them. They glanced around, and immediately noticed that things were slightly different. Buttercup scratched her head, as she landed on the ground with the other girls, and asked, "I don't get it...where's our house?"

Indeed, where they had been in front of their house before, it was no longer there. They were still in a suburban area, but there was a different house where theirs used to be. They saw a city off in the distance as usual, but it did _not_ look like Townsville.

"Very strange," the professor remarked. "Everything seems to _basically_ the same, yet nothing's really the same at all." He examined the HCMD and added, "This dimension has a differential index of twenty-two percent! Amazing, that's the highest index yet; usually, it's between two and three percent."

"Twenty-two percent doesn't sound like much..." Blossom said.

"It's enough. The odds that any of us exist in this dimension are extremely slim." He glanced at the HCMD's readout, perplexed, "That's strange...I'm picking up a very strong energy field nearby. Several, actually..."

A loud horn suddenly alerted them to the fact that they were standing in the street. A car skidded to a halt just before hitting them. A man leaned out of the window; he had sandy yellow-brown hair, and wore a shirt, tie, and glasses, like he was just coming back from work. "Whoa, there!" he said, in a friendly tone rather than angry. "Good thing I saw you!"

"Oops...sorry!" the professor said, stepping out of the car's way so that it could drive past them. The girls followed his lead. The car pulled past them, and turned into the driveway in the house they were in front of.

As the man stepped out of the car, the professor asked, "You live here?"

"Why, of course!" he replied. He looked down at the PowerPuffs, and said, "Aww, aren't those just the most adorable little girls you've ever seen?"

Bubbles giggled, blushing, "Thanks, mister!"

The man looked back up at the Professor, "So...I haven't seen you around here before. Are you from out of town?"

"You might say that," the professor nodded. "We were just going to be in town for the day. In fact, the place we were hoping to stay at doesn't seem to be around, so maybe you can help us. Do you know of any good hotels in the area?"

"Why spend the money? _I'd_ be happy to put you four up for the night if you'd like."

"Hm? Well, I'd rather not impose. You don't even _know_ us..."

"Nonsense!" He waved a hand in dismissal. "I almost ran you down back there. It's the least I can do to pay you back. Besides, like you said, it's only for a day."

"Well," the professor thought about it. "What do you think, girls?"

Buttercup said, "Hey, it's a free room. I say, go for it!"

The man walked over to the front door and opened it, "Okay! It'll be no trouble at all, really. And, I'm sure you girls will get along just _grand_ with _my_ two children..."

* * *

Mom was in the kitchen, when she heard the front door open. She came out to see who it was, and saw that Dad had come home from work. "Hi!" she greeted him happily. She saw the professor and the girls behind him, "Who's your friends?"

"Hi, hon!" Dad said. He motioned to the others, "These people are new to town. I said they could spend the night here if they wanted to."

"That's nice, dear," she smiled. Then she turned and called upstairs, "Kids! We have some visitors!"

Upstairs, there came the sounds of arguing. A boy's voice was heard, "No, give it back! You'll ruin it!"

A girls voice laughed, and said, "What does it do? What does it do?"

"No, don't push th--..."

There was a brief flash of light that came from upstairs, and the sound of electricity. After a few moments of silence, the girl's voice said, "Oops. Sorry! Hey, c'mon! Last one downstairs is a rotten egg!" This was followed by grumbling from the other voice.

The two children emerged from one of the upstairs rooms, and came down the stairs. The girl was tall and thin, and wore a small pink dress. Her blonde hair was in pigtails, much like Bubbles'. She was followed by a boy, much shorter, with red hair and glasses, and a lab coat. He also wore a pair of purple rubber gloves and a pair of thick black boots.

Mom introduced them as they walked down, "These are the kids...that's my darling little daughter, DeeDee, and her younger brother, Dexter."

"Hello!" DeeDee said, waving.

Dexter had stopped halfway down the steps, looking curiously at the PowerPuffs. He rose an eyebrow. _How strange_, he thought_...they are like nothing I have ever seen before! Those giant eyes, the lack of digits on their hands...very peculiar..._

The girls smiled, and the professor said, "Nice to meet you! I'm Professor Utonium, and these are my three girls...Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup."

Dad added, "They're going to be staying here for the day. I want you to make them feel at home here, okay?"

Dexter looked at Professor Utonium, and scratched his chin. _Hmm...a professor?_ he thought. _Well well! Maybe now I'll have some intelligent conversation around here for once._ _I shall have to put off my studies of these three until later. _He smiled and said cheerfully, "Okay, Dad! No problem!"

"Great!" Dad said. He said to Mom, "Come on, let's go get the guest room ready." The two of them left the room, while the Professor and the girls sat on the couch.

DeeDee said, "Wanna play a game? I have some board games and stuff in my room!"

Bubbles said, "Sure!"

"Can we, Professor?" Blossom asked.

"Go right ahead, girls," the professor replied. "This _is_ a vacation, after all. You go and have fun with...DeeDee and Dexter, was it?"

Dexter nodded, but said, "Actually, you four go on ahead, as I will be staying right here. I would much rather talk to Professor Utonium, as I have a higher probability of learning something useful than I would playing one of your _stupid_ games."

"What's the _real_ reason, Dex?" DeeDee taunted, "Afraid you'll lose?"

"No!" Dexter said, slightly annoyed, "I just don't want to humiliate you with my brilliance in front of our guests."

"Sure, what_ever_. C'mon, girls!" The four of them walked upstairs, and disappeared into DeeDee's room. Dexter, in the meantime sat down in a chair across from the Professor.

"So, ah..." he said. "Professor Utonium, is it?"

"That's right," the professor answered. "You seem to be a pretty bright lad, for your age, I can tell."

"Well...heh..." Dexter said modestly, "I _am_ a boy genius, after all." He brightened up, "So tell me...what do you study? What do you do?"

"All kinds of things. I enjoy every aspect of science, and I like to use it to create and invent. Why, just the other day, in my lab back home, I--"

Dexter interrupted, "You have a laboratory?"

"Of course," the professor shrugged. "How else would I conduct my experiments?"

Dexter nodded, "Yes, of course...so, I was wondering, what is your take on the theory of diversified quantum fluctuations as a controllable form of matter manipulation?"

The professor's expression brightened, "My, you _are_ the little genius, aren't you? Well, I think that the theory is sound, but there is no concrete evidence that such a procedure would provide a fine enough amount of control to be..."

The two of them continued talking about their own scientific theories. Dexter was overjoyed by such a stimulating discussion, and the Professor was enjoying himself as well. They exchanging their ideas and concepts well into the next couple of hours...

* * *

Up in DeeDee's room, the four girls were gathered around, playing 'Puppet Pals: The Board Game'. They had already played several games, because they were having so much fun. Buttercup was in the lead on this game, and was rolling the dice, shouting, "C'mon, baby! Gimme a nine!"

As she rolled, Bubbles looked around the room, and said, "I like how you decorated your room, DeeDee!"

"Thanks!" DeeDee giggled. "You three are way cool! I think you have the _cutest_ matching outfits!"

"You really think so?" Blossom asked.

"Yeah! I wouldn't change a thing!"

Buttercup moved her piece across the board, and said, "All right! Only three spaces away from the finish! Ha ha! Prepare to be beaten!"

"Shhh..." Blossom said suddenly, cocking her head to the side slightly, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" DeeDee said, confused.

Bubbles and Buttercup were listening intently, too, though. Buttercup said, "You're right...what _is_ that?"

"I'm not sure," Blossom replied, "but it sounds like something big..." Bubbles nodded

DeeDee just blinked a few times, then said, "You're crazy, I don't hear a thing..." Then, suddenly, there was a low rumbling sound, like heavy footsteps. It started off softly, then got louder and louder. Eventually, the whole house started to shake with each sound.

"Trouble! Let's move!" Blossom ordered.

The PowerPuffs flew over to the window, opened it, and looked out. Buttercup turned and said, "We'll be right back, DeeDee...uhh, DeeDee?"

DeeDee was staring at the girls just hovering there. At first, it looked like she was staring in shock, but a tiny smile crossed her face, and she said, amazed, "Ooooooo..."

"Oops...we forgot rule number one, didn't we?" Bubbles observed.

"There's no time," Blossom said quickly, "DeeDee, we'll explain everything when we get back. All right, let's go!" They shot out of the window in a flash. DeeDee, with her hands on the sides of her face, gave a scream of pure joy.

* * *

While Dexter and the professor were discussing particle mass acceleration, they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps in the distance. The professor exclaimed, "What in blazes is that?"

Dexter turned away from the professor. He glanced down at his watch, and whispered into it, "Computer! Analyze the source of these tremors!"

The watch brought up a picture of some large crocodile-looking creature, and said, "Sensors are picking up a giant monster attacking the town. Shall I prepare the Giant Dexter Robo?"

"Affirmative! I will be down in a moment." He turned back to looked at the professor, and said sheepishly, "Well, we've had a good talk, but I really must be going..."

"But..." the professor began. Before he could say anything else, though, Dexter had already hopped out of his seat, and ran up the stairs towards his room. He slammed the door behind him. The professor rubbed his chin, perplexed.

At that moment, Mom and Dad came back into the room, as another rumble shook the house. "Whoa!" Dad remarked. "Sounds like a storm's brewing!"

* * *

Back in the other dimension, the villains had all collected in City Hall, after having easily taken over the city. The Mayor was nearby, tied to a chair. Mojo Jojo unfurled a map on the Mayor's desk triumphantly, and said, "Behold! The new Townsville!" The map was indeed Townsville, but was now divided into several sections, each labeled with a different name.

Ace of the Gangrene Gang spoke up, "Lookin' good, there. So, whaddaya got fer us?"

Indicating a portion on the map, Mojo spoke, "Section A will now be known as Gangreneland. As requested, it includes most of the important...ahem...'cool hangouts' in the city." He pointed to another, "Section B will be torn down and replaced with the Princess Palace."

"I _suppose_ Section B will do," Princess scoffed. "Why can't I have D? It's closer to the river, and you _know_ I want the best scenic view from my palace!"

"You know Section D was reserved by Him," Mojo replied, "and he had first pick, fair and square." Him nodded at Mojo, who continued, "All right, moving on...Section C will be known as Amoebaville."

There were some suppressed snickers across the room. "Hey!" Bossman of the Amoeba Boys said, "So what if we got last pick? Section C isn't so bad..."

"Yeah, _right_!" Princess declared. "_Way_ too low-class for _my_ tastes."

"All right, all right, continuing..." Mojo pointed to another section on the map, "We have...let's see...Lumpkin Park...Sedeusa Central...that's everything!"

"Wait," Sedeusa said, examining the map, "Where's _your_ cut of the town, Mojo?"

"Why, I'll be in City Hall, of course..." Mojo answered.

"What?" Him said, angrily, "That's preposterous! You actually think _you're_ going to be running the city?"

Fuzzy slammed a fist down on the map, smashing the desk in the process, "Ah am _not_ gonna be takin' _no _orders from no _monkey_!"

Mojo held his hands up protectively in front of him, and says, "Now, hold on...what makes you think any of _you_ are more fit to run this city? I, after all, have superior brain power, and as such it would be more productive for the burden of leadership to be on my shoulders, being the most intelligent among us..."

"_You_?" Him hissed, "You're only an ignorant mortal...only one such as _I_ deserves to rule over this city and it's people..."

Princess hopped up on the remains of the desk and yelled, "Now wait just a _minute_ here! Who set this whole thing up? If it weren't for _me_ spending my money on that advertising campaign, we wouldn't have won in the _first_ place!"

"Pfft," Ace said. "Yeah, right...don't you mean your _daddy's_ money? 'Sides, the town won't be no fun anymore with a spoiled _brat_ like yous runnin' the city."

"_What?_" Princess shouted, "Do you have _any_ idea who you're _talking to?!_"

"'Aht does it!" Fuzzy growled, and leapt at the others.

All of them ran towards each other, and started fighting. They were barely visible beneath the cloud of debris that was kicked up as their fight nearly tore the room apart. As the fight continued, the Mayor, still tied up in a chair nearby, hesitantly suggested to no one in particular, "Ahh...well, _I_ could run the city..."

* * *

The monster was stomping down the streets of the city, smashing into buildings and knocking over cars. Everyone was running as fast as they could, even the police. The monster had just picked up one of the skyscrapers and was about to take a bite out of it, when it caught something out of the corner of its eye. Three tiny shapes were flying towards it. Thinking nothing of it, he chomped down on the side of the skyscraper. A moment later, though, they struck him in the side of the head, knocking him down.

The PowerPuff Girls hovered above the city, watching the monster topple over to the street below. "Keep your eyes open, girls!" Blossom warned, "I don't think he's licked yet..."

She was right, because at that moment, the monster spit out the skyscraper he was holding into his hand, and suddenly swung it at them. It slammed into them like a baseball bat, sending them soaring through the air above the city for several miles before they regained control.

"Man! That thing packs a mean punch!" Buttercup said, rubbing her jaw.

"Okay, let's regroup and..." Blossom began, but then she trailed off. She noticed something way off in the distance, and pointed at it, "Wait, what's that?"

At the other side of the city, the Giant Dexter Robo flew into view. Dexter slowed the robot's velocity as he approached the site of the monster. The computer spoke, "Now arriving at the battle site."

"Excellent!" he said. "Ready all weapons. I'm taking the beast down."

"Affirmative." As green lights lit up across the weapons panels, the radar beeped, showing three more dots. The computer added, "Dexter, my sensors are picking up three unusual power readings nearby."

"What? Onscreen!" he shouted.

A small viewscreen popped up on the heads-up display, showing a close-up of the girls. Startled, he said, "Hey, it's those weird girls! What are they _doing_ here?" He looked at some gauges, and whistled. "Those power readings are off the scales!"

The robot slowed to a stop, and landed in the street. It looked up at the girls, and Dexter's voice broadcasted from it, "Hey, who _are_ you?"

Bubbles, confused at the new arrival, whispered, "Do we answer it?"

Blossom remarked, "Hey, I think I know that voice..." She said, louder, "Dexter? Is that you?"

"Yes, it is," Dexter answered. "Now, if you don't mind telling me, how are you three just floating there like that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Buttercup replied, "We're superheros!"

"Yeah," Blossom added, "We're the PowerPuff Girls!"

The robot rubbed his head in confusion, as Dexter said, "Yes, but..."

Blossom interrupted him, "Look out!" The monster had crawled over, and suddenly grabbed the robot from behind with it's jaws, claming down across its chest and lifting it into the air. The girls gasped, and quickly flew down to help...they grabbed hold of the monster's jaws and tried to pry them apart.

Inside the robot, Dexter was frantically punching buttons, and quickly broadcasted, "Girls! Back off, and hurry!" They let go and backed off, as Dexter hit the last button. The surface of the robot was surrounded by an energy field, which briefly electrocuted the monster, forcing it to let go. The robot jumped free and landed back in the street, spinning around to face it again.

The girls flew over in formation by the robot's shoulders. Buttercup said, "Way to go, Dex! But _now_ what do we do?"

Dexter thought for a moment, as the monster climbed back to its feet and roared. He raised one of the robot's arms, which sprouted a large gun barrel. He said, "Let's see how it likes _this_!" He opened fire, and a bright crimson beam shot forth, striking the creature in the chest. It was forced back a step, but it stood its ground against it. The beam continued to push, but the creature edged forward against it, little by little.

"C'mon, let's help!" Blossom ordered. All three of them opened up with their eyebeams, striking the same spot. The Monster was knocked back some more. "Keep pouring it on!" Blossom shouted.

The monster braced itself, and roared louder, pushing against the four beams, and starting to advance forward once again. To make matters worse, the beam from the robot was slowly getting smaller and dimmer. "Oh no!" Dexter exclaimed, "The laser's running out of power...I can't hold keep it going for much longer!"

Blossom noticed this, and shouted, "Buttercup..."

Buttercup replied, "Way ahead of you, Blossom!" She stopped firing her eyebeams, and flew down to the robot. She ripped into the side of the arm, climbing into the core of the laser. Grabbing hold of the cables leading to the power supply, she channeled her own power into it, and bright green energy flowed across all the systems.

The gauges maxed out on Dexter's control panel, and he shouted, "Yes!", punching the weapon's firing trigger once more. A huge ball of green energy built up at the barrel of the gun, and traveled down the length of the beam, turning it green as it went. It struck into the creature in the chest, and in a loud blast, it exploded, showering the area with little more than blobs of green goo.

The girls cheered, as Buttercup flew back out of the robot's arm to join them, "We did it!" Bubbles exclaimed happily. "That was a great idea!"

Blossom said, "Actually, I was going to tell Buttercup to fly over and attack the creature head-on...but I guess that works too!"

The top hatch of the robot popped open, and Dexter ascended out of it on a small lift. As the girls flew down to meet him, he said, "Hey, that was pretty good! Why didn't you girls _tell_ me you were superheros?"

"Well," Blossom said, giggling a little, "Why didn't you tell us you have a giant robot?"

Dexter hesitated, then grinned, "Touché. Why don't we go back to my house, and we can all talk about it there? Ahh, one thing though..."

"Anything. What is it?" Blossom asked, smiling.

"Don't tell my parents about all this," he said, laughing nervously, "They, ah...they don't know about it..."

Buttercup waved it off, "No prob."

"Okay then! I'll see you back there!" Dexter went back into the robot, and its jets ignited. It lifted off the ground, and flew off into the sky, back towards his house.

Blossom watched it go, still with a huge smile on her face. Buttercup said, "C'mon, Bloss...Bloss? What's the matter?"

Her eyes drooped, half-closed, but the smile remained on her face, still watching as Dexter disappeared in the distance. She sighed happily, and said dreamily, "Nothing...nothing..." The other girls looked at each other quizzically, and shrugged.

* * *

Not much later, back at the house, they had all gathered in Dexter's room, which Dexter had decided would probably be a safer place to talk, so his parents wouldn't hear. The professor was still downstairs talking to them, so it seemed safe enough. The girls, in the meantime, were seated in various places across the room, while Dexter sat in the chair from his desk.

"I must admit, you three took my by surprise," he said. "It's not everyday that a couple of strangers stop by, and then turn out to be superheros. So, where do you come from?"

"Well, uh, it's kinda hard to explain..." Bubbles said, from her position on one of the bedposts.

Buttercup, who was leaning up against the wall, shook her head. "It's not hard," she corrected. "The professor invented some remote control thing that he uses to travel to other dimensions."

Dexter looked even more interested than before, "So...you are from a parallel universe? Absolutely fascinating! Does everyone from there have powers like you?"

"Nah, just us," Buttercup said proudly.

"Yeah, the professor created us!" Bubbles added.

"Hmm..." Dexter adjusted his glasses, and said, "You mean to tell me you were created in a laboratory experiment?" He thought, _Incredible...perhaps I can find out how to duplicate the procedure, and create a super formula that can give anyone superpowers!_

"Uh huh," Buttercup answered. "Isn't that right, Blossom?"

Blossom, who was lying on the ground, resting her head in her hands, merely nodded, her gaze never leaving Dexter for a second. He didn't notice this, and instead continued, "Do you suppose I could run a few...ahh, tests on you? I could always use some data on powers like yours..."

"Tests? Um, I guess so," Bubbles said, scratching her head, "but where?"

Dexter wordlessly hopped down from the chair and crossed the room to the bookcase. He pulled a book down from the shelf and opened it, pressing a concealed button inside. The bookcase behind him slowly rose, revealing a passageway. The bright light from his laboratory spilled out into the room, over the girls' amazed looks.

"Whoa..." Buttercup remarked.

"Girls," Dexter said, with a dramatic wave of his hands, "welcome to my Laboratory!"

They floated through the doorway, into the cavernous laboratory, which seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, filled with computers, flashing lights, and all sorts of complex machinery. All three of them said breathlessly, "Wow..."

Dexter walked past them, saying, "Okay, come on, time is money...let us proceed directly to the tests, shall we? Computer...prepare testing chamber one!"

Several large machines folded out from the walls and the floor. The girls looked around, startled, but didn't move. Dexter, in the meantime, walked over to a contraption with a punching-bag-like pad on one side. "This device will measure your strength. Just give the pad a good punch."

Bubbles floated over, and looked at the pad. She glanced questioningly over at Dexter, who nodded. She looked back, and shrugged, pulling a fist back and socking it. The force from the punch, however, not only caved in the machine, but sent it sliding across the ground, where it smashed through two other machines before embedding itself in a computer console nearby, which exploded in a shower of sparks.

Bubbles just smiled and asked, "How did I do?"

Dexter tried to contain his temper, as he said, "Girls, could you _please_ tell your sister to be more careful with..." He glanced over, and noticed that only Blossom was floating there, who was still staring at him with the same grin. "Wha? Where's Buttercup?"

"Hey, over here!" Buttercup shouted from a distance. She had found a huge set of speakers, and was fiddling with them, "Awesome stereo, Dex! What kinda music do you have?"

Dexter started to run over, "No! Do not touch the..." A moment later, the speakers started blasting dance music loudly. The force of the sound waves from the speaker bowled him over, knocking him back into the wall with a *thud*.

Buttercup in the meantime, landed on the ground and started dancing, "Yeah! This is cool!"

Dexter heard a high pitched, "Wheeee!" and looked over...Bubbles was near a set of thick cables coming from a bank of computers. She had pulled one cable free, and was swinging back and forth from it. Dexter cringed, thinking, _Oh no, my machines! What are they doing to my lab?_

While this was happening, Blossom flew over and landed near Dexter. She shuffled her feet slightly and said, "So...Dexter...uh, how are you doing?"

"Not very well at the moment." Dexter replied angrily, through his teeth, 

"Oh," she said, dropping her eyes...then she added, "Hey, you know, _I_ want to be a scientist when I get older too, like the professor..."

"That's nice..." Dexter said, not really paying attention, focusing more on his lab. Buttercup was shadow boxing while she was dancing to the music, and her wild kicks and punches started to strike various things around the lab, knocking them over. Dexter waved his hands wildly, trying to signal her to stop.

While this was going on, Bubbles had dropped free from the cable, and suddenly spotted a cage off to one side, the one with Dexter's monkey. She gasped, and screamed happily, "Monkey!" flying across over to the cage to look in. The monkey looked back at her and waved. She waved, giggling.

Dexter started to walk over towards the computer, in an attempt to shut off the music and the live cable that Bubbles had left behind, which now threw arcs of electricity up onto other machines. Blossom, however, flew in front of him to get his attention, inadvertently blocking his way. She said, "I'm starting to learn a lot of science stuff myself! Really!"

"Blossom, I have no time to..." Dexter began.

"C'mon, let me show you!" Blossom grabbed his hand and flew across the area, dragging him with her. She stopped at a table filled with chemicals and beakers, and started mixing some of them, "Look, I know the formula by heart...a little bit of this, a little bit of that..."

"No, don't...!" Dexter tried to say, but the mixture she was making abruptly exploded, showering them both with sticky green slime. Blossom blinked a few times, then laughed nervously, "Well, I'm still working on it..."

Dexter ran away from the table, screaming, "Auugghhhh!! Stop it! Stop it!" Despite his running around and waving arms, Buttercup was still smashing things with her dancing, and Bubbles was now flying around the lab with the monkey on her back, ramming into things in the process. Blossom, concerned about the damage they were causing, started gathering up loose pieces of junk in an attempt to straighten things up, involuntarily adding some of the still-functioning machines to the pile, which of course ceased to function once they were ripped from the wall. Everything was in total chaos.

Then, all three of the girls stopped together, their attentions drawn to a huge button on one bank of computers, nearly ten feet across. The three of them said at the same time, "What does _this_ button do?"

Dexter cried out, "Noooooo!" but it was too late; all three of them pressed it together. The lab was bathed in red light, as a warning buzzer went off...a few seconds later, everything exploded in a tremendous blast...***KABLAMMM***!

As the smoke slowly cleared, there wasn't much of the laboratory left, only a few scattered devices. Dexter stood there silently, covered with soot; the girls hovered nearby, in a similar condition. Dexter finally spoke up. "That's _it_! You three are worse than DeeDee! Now, get out of my laboratory!"

Bubbles lowered her eyes and said, "We didn't _mean_ to wreck the lab..."

"Yeah," Buttercup said, "We're sorry."

Blossom glanced at Dexter hopefully, "Can we still be friends?"

Gritted his teeth, Dexter was about to say something, when the door to the lab opened, and DeeDee wandered in. "Hello!" she said brightly, then looked around at all the destruction, "Geez, what happened in _here_?"

Dexter frowned, "I do not want to talk about it. I just want these _stupid_ girls out of my sight!"

"Dexter, I'm surprised at you," DeeDee declared, shaking her head, "These three helped you fight the monster, didn't they? They didn't even _have_ to; they were just visitors. And this is how you repay them?"

"But they wrecking my lab..." Dexter said, pouting slightly.

"...and the monster would have wrecked more that that, right?" DeeDee added. "You aren't treating them like friends, or guests, or even people. They're just another experiment to you, aren't they? Another test subject..."

"You're right," Dexter said sadly, trying to hold back tears. "I'm so sorry...girls, can you ever forgive me?"

"That's ok," Bubbles said, "We deserved it...we _did_ get out of hand a little..."

Blossom said, "We can help you fix things up, if you want. I'm sure the professor wouldn't mind if we asked him."

"Really? That would be great!" Dexter exclaimed, "If it's no trouble..."

"No trouble at all." Blossom said, waving it off. "It's the least we could do!"

Dexter grabbed Blossom's hand and kissed it, "Oh, thank you thank you thank you! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do!" He reached over onto a table, picking up a wrench, and started tightening a bolt on one of the machines.

Bubbles flew out of the lab following DeeDee to go find the professor, while Buttercup scooped up a broom and dustpan to help straighten up the place. Blossom, in the meantime, just hovered there and stared at her hand. She sighed softly, clutching it to her chest with the other, and smiled, whispering to herself, "I'm never washing this hand again..."

* * *

After the situation was explained to the Professor, he was more than happy to give a helping hand. They had spent the last few hours fixing up the lab; now that all their hard work was done, they stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"Wow, it's perfect!" Dexter said, shaking the professor's hand, "Thank you, Professor Utonium! My laboratory will be even better than ever with your own tweaks and modifications!"

"I'm glad I could help out such a bright young lad," the professor replied.

"Yeah," Bubbles added. "It was fun, too!" Buttercup and Blossom nodded in agreement.

"I only wish there was something I could do to repay you." Dexter thought about it for a moment, then said, "That's it! Professor...if you would be so kind as to allow me to examine your Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device?"

The professor rose an eyebrow, but said, "Uh, sure..." and pulled it out of his lab coat, handing it to him.

Dexter walked over to a table and flipped open a panel on the back. As the girls hovered behind him to see what he was doing, he carefully removed the battery, holding it up to the light, "Hmm...a high-yield miniature fusion cell. Effective, but ultimately inefficient..."

He set it aside, and picked up something else from the desk, another similarily-sized battery-like device. It was transparent, however, and a tiny green atomic-shaped molecule could be seen floating in the center, "My latest invention...the new Miniature Travel-Sized Neurotomic Protocore! Sadly, only a fraction of a full-sized Neurotomic Protocore's power output, but more than enough to make sure this baby never runs out of juice!" He installed it into the back of the HCMD.

"Are you telling me that I can use it as often as I want, now?" the professor exclaimed. "Without having to wait a day between uses?"

"That is a big affirmative, professor!" Dexter answered.

"That's incredible! You are a true genius, Dexter...I wish you well in your scientific endeavors." He picked up the HCMD from the table, and said to the girls, "What do you say? Head home?"

Bubbles and Buttercup both said, "Yeah!"

Blossom, however, said, "Can't we stay a little longer? I was really beginning to like it here..."

"Don't worry," the professor reassured her, "we can come back and visit again sometime."

Blossom brightened, and flew down, landing in front of Dexter, "Can we?"

Dexter leaned back slightly, and said, "Uh...uh, yeah, sure...I guess so..." He forced a smile, "But you know, I am usually quite busy..."

"I'll write you!" Blossom quickly promised. "I'll drop a letter here once and a while, okay?"

"Okay..." Dexter said, reluctantly.

The professor announced, "Time to go, girls..." and punched the button on the HCMD. It operated flawlessly, opening the portal up as always. The four of them gathered around the portal.

"Bye, Dexter!" Buttercup and Bubbles said together, and disappeared into the portal with the professor. Blossom waited by the entrance to the portal for a few extra moments...she smiled, and waved, before finally entering the portal. It sealed up behind her.

Dexter breathed out a sigh of relief, wiping his forehead, "Whew! I'm sure glad _that's_ over with." He started walking towards the lab exit, and said, "Computer...alert me if there is any sign of cross-dimensional disturbances detected in the future."

"Yes, Dexter." replied the computer. Dexter walked out of his lab, the door slamming shut behind him...

* * *

City Hall was an absolute mess. Everything was torn to pieces. Even the roof had been mostly blown away. The villains, all beat-up and bruised, were sitting around the remains of the Mayor's desk. The Mayor was still tied to a chair nearby, probably the one unscathed thing in the room. Mojo Jojo had a fist-full of straws, and thrust it out angrily, "Okay, _this_ will be the _actual_ decision. Him, you will _not_ use your powers to cheat this time!"

They all drew the straws. As they glanced around to find out who drew the short straw, Bossman of the Amoeba Boys spoke up, "Hey, that's not fair! I didn't get a long straw like _you_ guys did!"

As everyone growled in frustration, Sedeusa hissed, "You idiot! You're _supposed_ to get...rrrgh! Why do we even bother?!"

Princess folded her arms defiantly, "All in favor of the Amoeba Boys _not_ being in charge of the town, say 'aye'!"

Everyone chorused, "Aye" together, including the Amoeba Boys themselves. After a brief moment of silence, everyone _except_ the Amobea Boys facepalmed at the same time.

"At this rate," Him frowned, "we'll _never_ decide."

Ace waved it off, "Ah, lighten up. We'll have this done _way_ before the PowerPuffs come back _anyway_..."

A loud *AHEM* suddenly made all the of them turn their heads. Above them, from the hole in the roof, the PowerPuff Girls hovered there, arms folded across their chests. Blossom said, "Did you miss us?"

Before the villains could answer, or even really react, the girls exploded into action. Not that they had any problems, since they were already in bad shape as it was. As they fought, the Mayor said, "Oh, hello, girls! How was your vacation?"

Blossom paused for a moment, arm poised to punch Fuzzy in the face, and answered, "Oh, it was a _blast_, Mayor!" She thought to herself, _That was a pretty fun trip...I'll have to go back sometime to visit Dexter again...but man, it's good to be home!_ She resumed the fight with earnest, happily returning to her job of saving the day...

**__**

THE END


	5. Fame Over

EXCURSION 5 - "Fame Over" **__**

EXCURSION 5 - "Fame Over"

By: Mark J. Hadley

"We're gonna get in trouble..."

Bubbles was seated around the kitchen table with Blossom and Buttercup. The Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device sat in the center of the table, and all three girls were looking at it, although nobody touched it yet. Bubbles' comment prompted Buttercup to say, "You worry too much. We haven't even _done_ anything yet."

Blossom said, "Bubbles is right...the professor told us never to mess with it without his supervision. We haven't _yet_, and we _won't_, either."

"Aw, come on...it's not like we can't take care of ourselves," Buttercup argued. "For cryin' out loud, we're the PowerPuff Girls! I say we can handle _anything_ a dimension can toss at us."

"That may be true," Blossom replied, "but now's not a good time. The professor's out for the next few days presenting his data from our trips to a panel of scientists, and I _don't_ think he'd appreciate us messing around with the HCMD when he's gone."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Buttercup folded her arms, "I just want a souvenir, you know? Something to bring back. The professor never lets us keep anything we find."

Bubbles rested her head on one arm and said thoughtfully, "I remember the trip where everyone in town owned a pet bunny. I wanted a bunny, but the professor said something about taking creatures outta their native env--...enviremints..."

"See? Bubbles agrees with me," Buttercup pointed out. "Lighten up a little, Blossom. We'll be fine!"

"Well...I guess one little peek can't hurt..." Blossom picked the HCMD up off the table, and added, "Besides, with the modifications on it, we can just come right back anyway if it's dangerous."

Bubbles looked concerned, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course," Blossom answered, "I've seen the professor do it a dozen times. How hard can it be? All you do is put some random numbers in, punch the button, and go!" She started adjusting the coordinates, setting them randomly. After this, she poised over the button, asking, "All set?"

The girls nodded. Buttercup said, "Fire away!"

Blossom clicked the button, and the device shot the electrical spark out, creating the swirling vortex as it always had. She smiled triumphantly, and said, "There, nothing to it. C'mon, let's take a look!" She was now as excited to go as Buttercup was. The three of them flew up to the portal, and crossed through it. It sealed up behind them, leaving the kitchen in silence...

* * *

They emerged from the portal, and it closed up behind them. Glancing around, the realized that they were in the middle of a suburban park, instead of their house. "Okay, so our house isn't in the same place," Blossom remarked. "Well, that's enough...time to head back..."

Buttercup snatched the HCMD from her hand, "No way! We just got here!"

"Hey!" Blossom shouted. "Give it back! You'll wreck it!"

"Nah, I think I'll just hang onto it for a while," Buttercup smirked, tucking it away, "until we have a good look at this place." Blossom looked over at Bubbles and shrugged. Buttercup continued, "Now, let's go up and see what it looks like from above."

All three of them flew up into the sky. After gaining a little altitude, they surveyed the landscape. They were indeed in a suburban area, and it was fairly heavily populated, too. There were some taller buildings way off in the distance, but not a city, just a slightly more urban area. All in all, though, it was definitely _not_ Townsville. It was far too different; the layout of the roads, the buildings...everything was changed.

They soared well over the buildings, trying to stay out of sight of the people so that they wouldn't alarm them. Blossom glanced around and said, "Well, aside from the fact that this _isn't_ Townsville, it all looks pretty normal to me..."

"This stinks!" Buttercup complained. "What is this, the city of Dullsville? There isn't a thing going on _any_--" She trailed off, and slowed down, staring at one of the buildings below.

"What's wrong?" Bubbles asked.

"I just spotted something weird...follow me!" Buttercup descended towards the building, with Blossom and Bubbles close behind. There wasn't anyone around in the immediate area, so their appearance went unnoticed. They landed on the street, and Buttercup pointed, "Look!"

They were in front of an electronics store, and there were several televisions in the window. About half of them were showing some music video, but the other half was showing a cartoon. It wasn't an ordinary cartoon, though...it was them! Animated versions of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup flew across the screen in a flurry of color.

"What the...?" Blossom said, confused.

"It's us!" Bubbles exclaimed.

They stood there and watched for the next few minutes. The cartoon PowerPuff Girls were flying towards a giant monster. They started fighting it, smashing it around and beating it up, while it feebly attempted to attack back, in vain.

The girls watched the televisions, fascinated at seeing the animated versions of themselves. "I guess we _do_ exist here," Buttercup remarked. "They must have made a cartoon of our adventures or something."

"Not a bad idea, really," Blossom said. "It's a way to get extra money, I guess."

"I think we did our own voices, too," Bubbles added. "Didja hear it?" 

The show completed, and the credits to the show started to roll by. Blossom suddenly said, "Hey, wait! Did you see that?"

"See what?" Buttercup asked.

"The voices...they _weren't_ us!" Blossom explained, "I saw the name 'Catherine Cavadini' where my name was supposed to be...someone named 'Tara Strong' was listed next to Bubbles, and 'Elizabeth Daily' was next to Buttercup!"

"But...but it was us!" Bubbles said. "I'm _sure_ it was! It sounded _exactly like_ us!"

Buttercup said, "Maybe that's what our names are here..."

Blossom shook her head, "No, _that_ can't be. The characters in that cartoon all had our regular names. What's going _on_ here? This is really odd..."

At that moment, a group of children came around the corner of the street. They were carrying backpacks and lunch boxes, obviously just coming home from school. They were all talking to each other, but stopped when they saw the girls. One of them pointed over and said, "Hey look! Some people dressed as the PowerPuff Girls! They must be advertising something at the store."

Another said, "Let's go see!" They walked past the girls, smiling at them, and entered the store. Something caught Blossom's attention: one of the children was carrying a lunch box that had a picture of the PowerPuff Girls on the side, but again, it was the cartoon version that they had just seen. A moment later, they disappeared into the store.

The girls, in the meantime, stood there quietly, looking more confused than ever. Bubbles was the first to say something, "What was _that_ all about?"

"They knew us," Buttercup said, "But...if they did, why did they just walk past us without saying anything to us?"

A look of dawning appeared on Blossom's face, and she said, "I think I know...watch..." A girl came out of the store, and Blossom waved to her, saying, "Hi!"

"Hello!" the girl said, laughing a little, "That's a cute costume, it almost looks real. Bye!" The girl continued off down the street.

Blossom nodded, "Just what I thought..."

Folding her arms, Buttercup said, "Spit it out, already! What's going on? Why are all the people like that?"

Blossom looked back at Buttercup and said, "Girls...I don't think we'll actually find counterparts of ourselves living here. I think that cartoon we saw is all there is. To these people, we're just cartoon characters."

After a brief moment of silence, Bubbles spoke up, "That's really weird..."

Buttercup said, "You're actually suggesting that _we're_ not here, but they have a _cartoon_ of us? Are you serious?"

"Think about it," Blossom said. "It explains a lot. You know the Puppet Pals, right? What if you were walking along, and saw Puppet Pal Clem and Mitch standing on the sidewalk? Would you think it's _really_ them?"

"Yes!" Bubbles answered.

Buttercup shot Bubbles a look, and shook her head, "No, of course not."

Blossom added, "...and you'd probably just walk right past them, right? Maybe you might say something, but you're not too excited, 'cause they're not the _real_ Puppet Pals. Just like they did with us right now."

"Well...yeah..." Buttercup admitted. "I think you're right. Man, this _is_ freaky..."

Blossom continued, "I think it might be a good idea if we laid low and didn't do anything to startle anyone. These people have probably never actually seen anyone with superpowers before--"

All of a sudden, the three of them picked something up with their sonic hearing. A lot of police car sirens sounded in the distance. Buttercup exclaimed, "Sounds like trouble...c'mon, let's go!"

"No wait!" Blossom shouted, stopping Buttercup from taking off. "Let's go, but quietly. Fly high, so that no one will see us." She glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and said, "Okay, let's go!" The three of them shot into the sky, disappearing amongst the clouds...

* * *

It was a bank robbery. Several police cars had just poured into area, surrounding the bank, and they were all behind cover, weapons drawn. Blossom, from their safe position in the clouds, listened carefully to their speech from a distance. One of the officers was speaking into a radio, "Suspects are heavily armed, and have hostages."

Buttercup quietly said, "We can't just sit by and watch...we gotta _help_ them!"

"No, Buttercup!" Blossom said. "We wait right here, okay?"

Bubbles pointed, "Look, they're coming out!"

Indeed, the bank robbers were coming out of the front doors of the bank. They were wearing body armor and helmets, and were armed with sub-machine guns, looking like they were well prepared for this robbery. They held hostages out in front of them as human shields as they edged out of the doors. "Hold your fire!" the officer with the radio shouted.

The situation seemed tense, and then all of a sudden, the hostages, spun around, drawing their own guns. Blossom thought, _They must have been undercover officers...the fact that they had gotten to the bank so quickly probably meant they were tipped off about the robbery_. They didn't get fully around, though, as the robbers kicked them over, down the steps of the bank, and immediately started running around the side of the bank, spraying bullets towards the police cars. The officers all ducked behind cover, and the undercover officers laid flat, crawling as fast as they can towards safety.

"I can't take it anymore!" Buttercup shouted. "I'm goin' in!"

"Wait!" Blossom began, but Buttercup had already flown out of the clouds. Blossom and Bubbles, realizing that they wouldn't be able to keep their powers a secret _now_, gave up and followed right behind her.

The four bank robbers were just about to make it to their getaway van, when something startled them. Three small shapes shot towards them from the sky, leaving a rainbow-like trail of color behind them. The lead robber lowered his weapon slightly and said, "What the..."

A moment later, the girls reached them...with three quick punches, they knocked the weapons out of the front three robber's hands. In another quick set of punches, all three of them were knocked out, and landed in a pile on the ground. The lead robber, panicked now, raised his sub-machine gun and opened fire on them. He was even more alarmed when the bullets harmlessly bounced off.

In two fluid movements, Buttercup shot a brief blast of her eyebeams, slicing his weapon in half, and immediately followed it up with a kick to the chin. The robber was sent flying back into the wall of the bank, where he was knocked cold.

The police officers, in the meantime, were staring with a stunned silence, and had not yet lowered their weapons. The sight of these three small, strange-looking girls floating over the unconscious bank robbers was so mind-boggling that they didn't know _what_ to think. "Uh...chief..." the one officer spoke into his radio, slowly, "We, uh...have a situation here. I'm...not even sure how to explain it..."

Blossom looked at them, and smirked, "I think they're impressed. What do _you_ think, Bubbles?"

"They look scared," Bubbles said.

As it started to dawn on some of the people that the situation was secure, a few reporters and officers crept out cautiously from behind cover, and started heading towards them. Blossom shouted out, "Don't worry, it's safe!"

They approached faster now, more sure of themselves. The reporters reached them first, but stayed at a safe distance, since they were still hovering ominously. One of them whispered to a cameraman next to him, "Keep rolling!" and stepped out in front of the camera, speaking into a microphone. "Uh, we've had an amazing conclusion to the shocking drama you've just witnessed. It seems that these three 'girls' have single-handedly stopped the robbers' getaway."

He glanced nervously at them, then back to the camera, and continued, "But as to who they are, and how they did what they did, this reporter hopes to find out." He thrust a microphone out towards Blossom, and said, "Miss? I'm sure our viewers would like to know, who are you?"

As the camera turned towards them, Blossom smiled, thinking, _Oh well, they're gonna find out anyway, so I might as well tell them._ She said, "Well, my name's Blossom...these are my sisters, Bubbles and Buttercup.

"We're superheroes!" Bubbles added, flying over to the microphone.

"Yeah," Buttercup said, joining them, "We're the PowerPuff Girls!"

Unknown to them, across the state, kids were pointing at their televisions and screaming with joy, barely able to believe what they were seeing. Not only did their favorite cartoon characters turn out to be real, but also they were _here_, saving the day, just like in their adventures! The news spread out to the rest of the country like wildfire...

* * *

It was later on, at the steps of the city's City Hall, that a large crowd had gathered. Everyone from the reporters in the front to a group of onlookers in the back, and an inordinately large number of childeren as well, had come to listen to what the PowerPuff Girls had to say. They had already given an explanation to the police, and felt it was time to let everyone else know, as the curiosity of the people began almost to get out of hand. As the press waited, the girls came out, accompanied by the mayor and several head police officials.

Blossom flew up to the podium, and spoke into the microphone, "People of America...we come here today in a rather unusual situation. As many of you know, we look exactly like the superheroes from one of your television programs. I am here to tell you that we are _indeed_ those superheroes. It is very strange, I know, but I will try to explain exactly what's going on."

She took a breath and continued, "You see, my sisters and I have traveled here from another dimension. In this dimension, we are the PowerPuff Girls. We live in the city of Townsville, USA, and protect it and the world from all kinds of unimaginable disasters. Anyway, to make a long story short, our creator, Professor Utonium, invented a device which we used to travel here, to _your_ dimension."

As the people in the crowd were reacting to her words, she added, "Believe me, it came as a huge surprise to _us_ to find out that everything we do in real life back in our dimension exists only as stories in yours. So I can imagine what kind of shock this must be to see what you know as fictional characters in the flesh. I assure you that we come only in peace, and hope that you will accept us." She paused, and said, "Any questions?"

A large number of reporters thrust their microphones out, and one of them asked, "Blossom, is it? Why have you come here to this dimension?"

"Actually," Blossom answered, "we've been visiting a lot of dimensions. The professor's running a study."

Bubbles moved over to the microphone and added, "It's a lot of fun, too! Not just all that science stuff." There were chuckles from the crowd, particularly from the children. Bubbles smiled, and waved to them.

Another reporter said, "How long are you planning to stay?"

Blossom cleared her throat and said, "Actually, I'm not sure. We can't stay forever, 'cause we have to get back. Townsville needs us, after all."

There were choruses of "Awww..." coming from the children in the crowd. Bubbles frowned a little sadly, and whispered to Blossom, "We can stay for a _little_ while, can't we? The professor's not due back for a couple of days..."

Before Blossom had time to answer, another reporter said, "Okay, this question isn't from me, exactly...it's from my daughter; she's a fan of the show." Some people chuckled, and the reporter continued, "She wanted me to ask her favorite, Buttercup...are you really the toughest?"

Buttercup laughed. She moved in front of the microphone and said, "You know it! I'm the toughest of the tough! Also, let _me_ say that wherever you are, you have good taste, kid!" More people laughed, and Buttercup smirked. _I didn't realize how popular I must be_, she thought. _Not that I'm surprised or anything._

A man in a suit walked up to the mayor and whispered something to him. The mayor nodded, and stepped over to the microphone, saying, "PowerPuff Girls...I've just been informed that several top executives of Cartoon Network, the network that produces the PowerPuff Girls cartoon, would like very much to meet with you. They have told me that they wish to offer you lodging for this evening, and you can meet with them tomorrow morning."

The crowd cheered at this. Blossom was taken by surprise, and turned to the other girls, "What do you think? We really shouldn't be staying here very much longer..."

"Give it a rest, already, Bloss!" Buttercup said. "We'll go back when we're ready. Right now, let's just enjoy ourselves...these people _love_ us!"

Bubbles nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! We're famous!"

Blossom didn't need much convincing, however. She was already enjoying being a worldwide celebrity, and wanted to spend more time amongst their fans. "All right," she exclaimed, "let's do it!"

* * *

After the media had completed all their questions, they made their way to the hotel. Cartoon Network had furnished them with a luxurious room, and lots of extras that they figured the girls would enjoy. A huge pile of toys, a refrigerator stocked with ice cream, a satellite TV, a computer with Internet access, the works. Blossom was lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She said, "Whew! I'm beat...I thought they'd _never_ finish with all those questions! We were there for _hours_..."

"I had fun!" Bubbles said.

"Me too, but it was still a little tiring..." Blossom answered. She sighed happily, "Ahhh, this bed is _really_ soft...not like the one back home, huh?"

Bubbles was too busy playing with the toys to reply. She was particularly engrossed with one bunch of toys, doll versions of themselves. She held up the Blossom toy and said, "Townsville's in trouble! Let's move out! Wheeeee!" and started flying the dolls around in the air.

Buttercup, in the meantime, was messing with the computer, browsing the Internet. She remarked, "Man, look at all this stuff! A lot of the fans like to write their _own_ stories..."

"Hey, Bubbles," Blossom said, "isn't this great? We work like mad trying to save the world back in _our_ dimension, and yet, _here_, we're worldwide heroes just because we're counterparts of characters from a TV show."

"Uh huh," Bubbles said, lowering the dolls for a moment. "It's like all the fame, and none of the work."

"You bet!" Blossom agreed.

Buttercup was busy reading one of the many fan fictions she downloaded from the net. "Huh? The Rowdyruff Boys?" she said, as she read. "What are _they_ doing in the story? We _destroyed_ them, for cryin' out loud!"

Bubbles ignored this, and continued, "Do you think we're taking it too easy, Blossom?"

"What do you mean?" Blossom asked.

"Well, I mean like how we're not really saving the world over here. We're just stars. I miss saving the world and stuff..."

"Bubbles, it's only been one day! Not _even_ a whole day yet!"

"I know, but it seems like a long time."

Buttercup, who was still reading the fan fiction, interrupted the conversation, exclaiming, "What?! Me and _Butch_?! Yeech...you gotta be _kidding_!"

Blossom looked over, "Buttercup, that's enough of that...let's just get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Buttercup shut down the computer, and Bubbles put the dolls back into the pile of toys. All three of them headed over and climbed into bed. The three of them were too excited to sleep for a while, though, as they stared up at the ceiling and talked to each other. Bubbles stared at the ceiling, saying, "I _have_ always _wanted_ to be famous...do you think they'll put us on TV?"

"We already _are_ on TV," Blossom answered. "I'm sure people will want to interview us some more, though."

Buttercup said, "It's great! We're on easy street now. We can come back here and visit all our fans anytime we want!"

"I really don't want to leave," Blossom said, "but I know we have to. I wish I could just stay here forever. We have everything we could possibly need..."

They continued talking for the next hour, but their weariness eventually got the better of them. After a while, the three of them finally drifted off to sleep, dreaming about their fans, and the fame and glory they were anticipating for the next day, completely unaware that someone was watching them from outside their window...

* * *

A limousine brought them to Cartoon Network's headquarters the next day. As they were ushered into the building, a huge line of fans cheered them on. The girls loved it; they never got quite this kind of attention back home, and it was better than they had dreamed.

They were finally brought into an office by one of the executives. They approached a desk at the other end, where a man was seated. The executive said to him, "The PowerPuff Girls, as you requested, sir."

"Great!" he said, a little excited, and waved off the executive, "That'll be all. Thanks!" The executive nodded and walked out of the office, leaving the girls hovering in the center of the room, waiting to see what this man wanted.

He got up from the desk and crossed the room, holding his hand out to Blossom to shake it, "My name's Craig. Craig McCracken. I'm the creator and lead animator of the PowerPuff Girls cartoon."

Blossom shook his hand, and said, "It's an honor to meet you, Craig."

As he shook her hand, he replied, "No way, the honor's all mine! This...this is just too cool. I never would have thought I'd actually be standing here, talking to you three! I mean, I _created_ you...now, to find out that you actually exist in another dimension? It's awesome!"

Blossom said, "This is all good for us, too! I can't believe how popular we are here..."

"Merely the first step, girls," Craig laughed. "I want to take this thing to the whole world! And now that _you_ three are here, we can do it!" He grinned.

Blossom nodded, "Sounds good."

"What did you have in mind?" Bubbles asked.

"Well, let's just say I had some 'public appearances' planned." He changed the subject, "Say, I was wondering...did Professor Utonium ever tell you the formula for Chemical X?"

Blossom was taken aback by this sudden change of topic, "No...he hasn't...why?"

Craig's face fell a little, and he said, "Is there any way you can find it out? I'd like to see it. I assume that he kept all the other stuff the same? Sugar, spice, and everything nice?"

"Yes...well, I guess we could ask--" Blossom began.

"Hey, wait a minute," Buttercup said, frowning slightly. "Whaddaya need to know _that_ for?"

"Uh..." Craig hesitated, then continued, "I was just thinking that you girls will have to go back _some_time, so if I knew how to make the PowerPuff Girls _here_, you wouldn't need to come back unless you wanted to..."

"We already said we'd help." Blossom reminded him.

"I know, but this way you don't _have_ to," Craig said. "Aren't you eager to get back home? It's just a measly little formula..."

Blossom shook her head, "It's Chemical X, not a measly little formula. We've already learned that it can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. And we've already said we'll help, so giving out such a sensitive secret would serve _no_ purpose."

"Yeah, so what's the _real_ reason?" Buttercup asked, glaring.

Craig fell silent for a few moments, then he turned around and walked back to his desk, sitting down in his chair. His whole demeanor seemed to change; instead of easygoing and laid-back, he was suddenly very serious. He stared at the girls, and said, "I should've figured you'd be too smart for the casual approach. All right, then, I'll tell you. Everything."

He clicked a button on his desk, and a panel slid open on the wall, revealing a monitor. A video began showing on it, of a group of people in a science laboratory. Craig spoke, "For the past ten years, I have been pursuing a goal, something that I dreamed of long ago. My dream told me that if I was able to create a certain formula, I could end up with an unstoppable weapon, a super soldier capable of defeating any army it faces single-handedly."

As the girls watched the screen, the scientists on it were mixing various chemicals together, and working on formulae. Craig continued, "Not just _any_ super soldier, though. I knew that I could create them in the form of the perfect little girls. Then, they would first win the world's charm and affection, before finally, at my command, they would suddenly strike, and be able to conquer the world with no obstacle to stand in their way."

The laboratory became empty on the screen, and Craig commented, "Unfortunately, our funding ran dry before we could discover the formula for the final ingredient needed: Chemical X. In a desperate attempt to raise funds, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I pitched the PowerPuff Girls cartoon to Cartoon Network, and they accepted it, making it into a series. This worked all too well for my plans. Not only did it supply me with a large cash base with which to continue my research, but the 'perfect little girls' that I wished to create were already being endeared to the public eye ahead of time. Then, once I could _create_ the actual PowerPuff Girls, they would be accepted instantly."

Before the girls could say anything, Craig stood up and continued, "Although we made _many_ incredible advancements, we never _did_ find the formula." He slammed a fist on the table in anger. "I had all but given up, using the research funding to gather a personal army instead, so at least I'd have _something_ out of all of this. But then, _you_ three showed up, and this presented me with an excellent opportunity. Now, I'll eventually have you retrieve the formula from Professor Utonium, but that can wait. For now, you will instead help me to directly reach my ultimate goal: becoming ruler of this world!"

"What?" Buttercup exclaimed. "Are you crazy?"

Bubbles nodded, "Yeah, we aren't helping _you_!"

Blossom agreed, "That's right! The PowerPuff Girls would _never_ help out an evildoer such as you! We're going to take this right to the police, and _then_ we're going to go _back_ to _our_ dimension."

Craig just grinned evilly, "That's what _you_ think. You aren't going _anywhere_ without your precious dimensional travel device."

"What are you talking about? We've got it right h--..." Buttercup reached for where she had tucked away the HCMD, but couldn't find it. She searched some more, "No! Where is it?"

Craig calmly clicked on the monitor once again, showing a live feed from his laboratory. The HCMD was sitting on a workbench. He asked, "Looking for this, are you? Come now, girls, I didn't pay for your hotel room just for _nothing_. I had an additional key, of course, and naturally, you didn't suspect a thing."

Bubbles flew over and grabbed Craig by the shirt. She said, upset, "That's not very nice! You give it back!"

Craig was completely unfazed by this, and said, "Ah ah ah. All in due time, Bubbles. But first...you'll help me take over the world, or you'll _never_ return to your own dimension again." He punched another button on the desk, and on the monitor, a robotic arm picked up the HCMD, holding it precariously over an incinerator.

Blossom was concerned when she saw this, but then ignored it, "So you want us to help you, just so we can get back home? Forget it. It's a small price to pay."

"Of course it is," Craig said, sarcastically, "I'm sure that all your friends and family back home won't worry about your absence for too long. Of course, they won't have the chance, once Mojo Jojo destroys the city, or Him takes over. But that's all right. They'll understand that you'd forsake them all just to help out a completely different dimension."

The girls hovered quietly, thinking this over. This hadn't occurred to them, what would happen to Townsville without their protection. Buttercup, looking anxiously towards Blossom, asked, "What do we do?"

Blossom was at a loss; she whispered, "We have no choice, girls. All right...we'll do it..." The three of them hung their heads sadly in defeat, Craig's maniacal laughter being the only sound they heard...

* * *

The first task assigned to them was to go out and capture all of the world leaders from each nation, one by one. This was, of course, not a problem for them to do, but they felt terrible about it. Here they were, all prepared to take the world by storm with their fame, only to have to tarnish their own names by doing the work of an evil mastermind. The news was beginning to spread quickly that these three superheroes had "evidently lost their minds." In a span of a few short hours, every world leader had been rounded up and delivered. Once the first task had been completed, Craig coldly told them to wait out in the lobby of Cartoon Network until he needed their help again.

The girls did so, depressed. Bubbles sat with her head in her arms, and pouted, "I want to go home..."

"I know what you mean, Bubbles," Buttercup said. "I can't stand it here anymore either."

Blossom stared up at a television in the lobby, which was playing one of the PowerPuff Girls cartoons, and said, "We were going to be so happy here. The people all loved us...but now, they probably hate us." She frowned, "We shouldn't have let them down. They're real people, just like the ones back home."

Buttercup hung her head, "I wish..." She sighed in frustration, "I just wish there was something we could do...but that guy knows our every move. He's probably prepared for us in case we try anything."

Blossom was distracted by something on the television, "Hey, did you see that?"

Surprised, Buttercup looked up, "What?"

"That!" She pointed at the fight that was taking place in the cartoon, "Remember that? It was the giant blob monster that attacked the city. The one that was looking for his cat..."

Bubbles flew over, and studied the television, "Hey, you're right. Um...so?"

"So," Blossom said, "the cartoon is playing out exactly like it happened back home..._except_, they left out when I tried using my ice breath on it."

"So it's not exactly the same," Buttercup remarked. "What's the big deal?"

"There's something strange...how could they get everything else right, but..." Blossom broke off as something else caught her eye, "Look! It's different again!"

They watched as the cartoon PowerPuffs tried to get rid of the Blob monster by throwing a giant statue of a cat from the park at it...which it promptly scooped up and hugged. "Wait a minute," Buttercup said, "That's not how it happened at all!"

A slow smile spread over Blossom's face, and she said, "If I'm right, this next part will be different, too..."

"What part?" Bubbles asked.

Indeed, something _was_ different, as Blossom expected. Instead of the cartoon Bubbles calling out to all the cats like she had actually done, the three girls darted through the city instead, gathering up all the cats by hand. Blossom smiled, "I knew it! This changes everything. Girls, listen up, I have a plan, but we have to be _very_ careful about it..."

* * *

The world leaders were all gathered together down in Craig McCracken's laboratory, deep underground beneath the Cartoon Network headquarters building. They were all tied to chairs, and arranged in a large semicircle in front of a large monitor, which flickered to life, showing the image of Craig. "Greetings, former world leaders," Craig spoke, his voice laced with evil, "So nice of you all to drop in."

"What do you want from us?" one of them demanded.

"Why, your countries, of course," Craig replied. "Once I have complete control over them, I shall release you. Otherwise, I will just have to take them by force, and I'm sure you'd rather not put your people through that kind of torment, would you?"

Another one of the world leaders shouted, "We will never give in to your ultimatum!"

"If that is what you wish. However, I will give you time to think it over." In his control room, Craig switched off the monitor, and said, "Ahh, yes, it's only a matter of time. The world will soon be mine!"

One of his aides ran over suddenly and said, "Sir, the PowerPuff Girls have left CNHQ."

"What? Track them!" Craig growled. He switched on the radar monitor, and saw them flying high up into the upper atmosphere. He raised an eyebrow, studying the screen, "Hmm...what are they up to? Well, it doesn't really matter. We're so deep underground that if they dared to try anything, I can have their precious dimensional travel device destroyed before they even get _halfway_ to us."

His smug expression suddenly changed to one of shocked confusion, as he saw them descending back towards the Earth at an incredible speed. So fast was their reentry that the air around them began to catch on fire. "What in blazes..." he began.

That's when the flames around all three of them seemed to merge together...for a moment, it was just a huge fireball shooting towards the ground, but in the next, it took the shape of a cat. Craig gaped...he couldn't believe his eyes. _What power is this?_ he thought. _They're not supposed to be able to do that! What's going on?_

The Furious Fiery Feline plunged into the ground, ripping straight through it like a hot knife through butter. In almost no time at all, they had closed the distance between them and the laboratory. With an explosion of flame, they burst into the room where the world leaders were being held. The flame flickered off almost as quickly, and Blossom immediately shouted, "Grab the device!" All three of them shot towards the mechanical arm that held the HCMD.

Craig narrowed his eyes, pounding a button on the control panel. The arm quickly started to lower towards the incinerator, but Blossom was prepared. She had already taken a deep breath, and blew a cloud of freezing cold air across the arm, surrounding it with ice and freezing it in place. Buttercup flew over and easily pried the HCMD from its grip.

Watching this happen, Craig's face appeared on the monitor in the room, and he snarled, "How can this be? You don't have powers like that! You _can't_!"

"Maybe not our counterparts in your cartoon," Blossom answered, "but _we_ certainly do! It's too bad that your own vision of the PowerPuff Girls conveniently left out all of our abilities. I knew they would give us the tactical advantage."

"Very clever," Craig said leaning back in his chair, and punched a button. An alarm sounded, and Craig shouted across the extents of the laboratory, "Attention! The PowerPuff Girls are to be destroyed at once! Attack! Attack!" Soldiers from Craig's personal army started pouring into the room from several doors. They raised their weapons and opened fire, but the girls were too fast. They ducked out of the way and took cover behind some of the tables.

"Bubbles!" Blossom quickly ordered, "Get the world leaders to safety!" Bubbles flew over to where the world leaders were tied up and tunneled into the ground underneath them. After a few moments, she reappeared, lifting the entire section of ground they were all sitting on, and flying them up and out of the hole they originally came through. The guards fired a few shots after her, but missed, and she disappeared from view.

Blossom quickly shouted, "Good! Buttercup, plan gamma-theta-twelve, now!" As the soldiers turned their weapons back to them, both of them quickly grabbed hold of the legs of the table they were hiding behind, and flew forward with it, ramming into the first rank of soldiers. They spun around to face the other half of them, and a set of quick blasts from their eyebeams melted the soldiers' weapons before they could get any more shots off. In a flurry of motion--and punches--they knocked all the soldiers out.

Bubbles rejoined them, and they started flying through the rest of the complex. They located the control room with little difficulty, bursting in through the door, but before they could approach the main computer station, Craig quickly punched a button and was sealed behind a heavy pane of glass. The girls punched at it, but it wouldn't give.

"Ha!" Craig shouted, "That glass is actually a powerful transparent titanium alloy! It should easily withstand even _your_ levels of strength, giving _me_ enough time to prepare my getaway..."

Blossom wasn't worried, she turned to Bubbles and waved her arm, saying, "Bubbles, if you will..." Bubbles nodded and took a deep breath...she let loose a high-pitched sonic scream that caused the whole room the shake. As Craig grabbed his chair to hold on, he watched in astonishment as the pure force of the soundwaves caused the glass to crack, then shatter.

Craig lifted his arms up protectively in front of himself and laughed nervously, "Hey, hey, you all know I was just kidding back there...You three are the coolest! I'm sure you can find it in the goodness of your heart to--..." He didn't get the chance to finish, as a moment later, the girls started throwing punches and kicks at him. After being knocked about by them, he collapsed to the ground, out cold.

"C'mon, Girls," Blossom ordered, "Let's bring him to the police...and bring all those world leaders back to their homes!" They each shot off in different directions with earnest, finally prepared to set things right...

* * *

They were gathered in front of the same City Hall that they had the day before. There were many more people now, including the President, and the press had been asking them questions about what had happened. They had explained everything to them, and the people understood. What was prevalent on everyone's mind, though, was the fact that it was time for the girls to travel back home.

One of the reporters said, "Some people are wondering what will become of the cartoon now that Craig McCracken is in prison." He held his microphone out for an answer.

Blossom stepped forward and said, "I am told that the Cartoon Network had no knowledge of Craig's activities and evil ambitions, and that their staff will continue to make more cartoons of the PowerPuff Girls in honor of what's happened."

The President stepped forward, "Words do not begin to give justice to your great deed. All of us will look upon you three in a different light altogether from this point forth...no longer as a fictional embodiment of the good in each of us, but rather as true heroes, who have saved the people of the Earth from the tyranny of an evil megalomaniac. Without your help, we would surely have been doomed. I'm certain I speak for us all when I say that the world will miss you, girls, and that we will always have a special place for you in our hearts."

The crowd cheered enthusiastically in agreement. Bubbles smiled, and said, "Thanks! I promise we'll try to visit again someday!"

Buttercup picked up a sack that was lying next to the podium, and threw it over her shoulder, floating back to where the other girls were. She nodded to Blossom, "Okay, we're all set."

Blossom nodded back, and lifted the HCMD, punching the button. As the crowed watched in awe, the electricity jumped from the end and opened up the swirling vortex back to their dimension. The girls moved over and paused by the vortex, waving one last time at the crowd. "Goodbye!" all three of them shouted together, and the crowed cheered them on as they disappeared through...

* * *

The three of them reappeared on a rooftop somewhere in Townsville. Blossom looked around, as they stepped out from the vortex, gazing across the city, and said, "Ahh, it's good to be back again..."

The vortex closed up, and Bubbles looked back where it was a moment ago, and said sadly, "I wish we didn't have to leave, I really liked being famous..." Her eyes caught sight of the citizens of Townsville in the street, who looked back at her, waving. She smiled, and added, "...but I guess we're still famous here, too!"

"It's a start, anyway," Blossom said. "Well, we'd better get back home before the professor returns from his trip. I don't have any regrets about going, though."

"Me either; I'm just glad we came back with something this time," Buttercup exclaimed, setting down the sack she was carrying. She rummaged through it, and pulled out the souvenirs from their trip: three small, plush dolls of the PowerPuff Girls. It served as a reminder of the legacy they left behind, and the world that would forever remember them.

**__**

THE END


	6. Powerless Girls

EXCURSION 6 - "Powerless Girls" **__**

EXCURSION 6 - "Powerless Girls"

By: Mark J. Hadley

The PowerPuff Girls...although only in kindergarten, these three girls possess powers and abilities far surpassing that of many other superheroes, even ones that are much older than they are. With this kind of power comes great responsibility, and not only just to use it in a capable manner. There is also the temptation to flaunt that power like a new toy, to prove oneself superior to others. This is just as important to control as the actual use of the power itself, as it may have unexpected consequences to others. The girls will learn this lesson all too well...

* * *

Professor Utonium had just finished up the last parts of his equation on the chalkboard in his laboratory, and he stepped back to admire his handiwork. "I think this is it," he said, thoughtfully. "Now all we have to do is _test_ the theory..."

The PowerPuff Girls were floating behind him, watching. Buttercup sighed, and said, "_Finally_. You know, I liked it a lot better when you just punched in any old numbers and went with it. This new stuff takes too long."

"Yes, but this is how we learn, Buttercup," the professor replied, picking up the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device from the table. "If my calculations are correct, these new settings should take us to a dimension where everything is almost _exactly_ the same as it is in our world. The variance between the two should be less than .01 percent."

"What fun will _that_ be?" Buttercup asked. "We can just stay _here_ for _that_..."

The professor shook his head, "It's the principle of the whole thing. If I'm right about this, then it should be cakewalk to precisely predict what any given dimension will contain, just by its coordinates. That's when the _real_ triumph begins. We'd be able to find dimensions that had cure for any disease, or solved world hunger, or _anything_..."

Blossom said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's try it out!" Bubbles nodded anxiously in agreement.

"That's the spirit!" the professor said. He carefully tuned the HCMD to the coordinates he had calculated on the board, and said, "Looks good...all right, here we go!" He punched the button, and the vortex opened up as always.

He waved them through, "After you, girls..." The PowerPuffs flew through the vortex, and the professor gave the chalkboard one final glance, to double-check his work, before following them. It sealed up behind them as always, leaving the laboratory quiet once again.

* * *

They emerged from the vortex right into the Professor's lab. For a moment, they almost thought that they hadn't even left, because almost everything was in the exact same place. "Wow, I think you did it, Professor!" Blossom remarked. "Nothing's changed!"

"Whee." Buttercup replied sarcastically.

"This is definitely a good sign that...wait a minute..." the professor said. He glanced over at the chalkboard where he had been writing his calculations back in their home dimension, and said, "This isn't what I was working on!"

Bubbles scratched her head, looking at the board, "It isn't? It looks the same to me..."

"No, no..." he said. "This looks like the rudimentary equations for making the HCMD work in the _first_ place. Which means I haven't invented it here yet, and that also means..." He pulled the HCMD out and checked some readings, "Diffirential index of .8 percent. Well, I was close...I guess it's back to the drawing board, though..."

They suddenly heard voices from upstairs. They spoke softly, "Professor...I think I hear something down in your lab!"

"What? Girls, stay where you are, I'll check it out..."

"Be careful!"

The sound of footsteps came over to the door, and it opened. Professor Utonium was at the door, and upon seeing the professor and the girls in his lab, his eyes flew open in shock, and he said, "What in the name of Newton..."

"Easy, Professor," the professor said, calmly. "I can explain in four letters: H-C-M-D."

After a few moments, alt-Professor smiled and said, "So, I actually got it to work, did I? That's great!" Blossom smiled to herself; it never ceased to amaze her how these alternate-dimension Professor Utoniums caught on so quickly. He continued, "You don't suppose you could tell me how y---...I mean, how _I_ did it, do you?"

"We'll have time for that later," the professor said. "May we come upstairs?"

"Of course! My home is your home," alt-Professor said. "Literally." Both of the professors laughed over the joke. The girls just rolled their eyes; they'd heard him tell that joke in several _other_ alternate dimensions already. The worlds might have been different, but his sense of humor sure seemed to remain the same.

Alt-Professor glanced down, "Are you sure it was a good idea to bring the girls with you? Cross-dimensional travel can be mighty dangerous, I'd imagine..."

"Why dangerous?" the professor asked, starting to climb the stairs. "It's not like they can't take care of themselves, you know."

"What are you talking about?" alt-Professor scolded, "I would _never_ take anyone that young on such a hazardous trip..." He broke off, as the girls flew up behind the professor, following him up the steps. He stared at them in shock.

_Uh oh,_ the professor said. _What did we do now? _The professor thought about this for a moment, but then a voice came from behind the Professor, out from the kitchen. It sounded like Blossom. "Is...is everything okay, Professor?"

"Everything's fine, pumpkin," alt-Professor responded, still not taking his eyes off the hovering PowerPuffs. He slowly rose a hand to point at them, and said, "They...they can fly?"

"Of course we can," Blossom answered. "Why wouldn't w--...oh..." She trailed off, as she suddenly realized the same thing that the professor was probably thinking.

He probably _was_ because a moment later, he said to alt-professor, "Utonium, let me ask you a simple question...are Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup superheroes in your world?" Alt-Professor wordlessly shook his head. "Well, uhh...you see...they kind of _are_ in our world..."

A voice came from behind alt-professor once again...this time, it was Bubbles, who walked over to the doorway, carrying Octi in one of her arms. "What's going on, Professor?" she asked. Then she gasped, as she saw everyone. She stared in shock, Octi falling out of her hands, "W...w....wha...."

"Now, Bubbles," alt-Professor said, "go back to the kitchen with your sisters. I'll explain everything." She nodded, and backed slowly out from the doorway. He looked over at the visitors and said, "Well, come on, we'd better not keep them waiting...I think _I_ need an explanation as much as _they_ do..."

* * *

They sat around the kitchen table, all eight of them. The professor had quickly explained to the alternate-dimension girls what was going on. "...and so," the professor finished, "we decided to take another dimensional trip, and this is where we ended up."

"Wow," alt-Buttercup said, breathlessly. "That's amazing..."

"Um, Professor? I mean, the other Professor?" alt-Bubbles said. "I saw them floating in the air...how can they do that?"

The professor answered, "Well, you see, girls...in our world, you three are super-powered crime fighters. Isn't that right?" He looked over at Blossom.

Blossom nodded, "That's right! We're the PowerPuff Girls, and we have all kinds of different powers. We can fly, for example..."

"No way!" alt-Blossom said, amazed. "Can we see?"

Blossom glanced at the professor, who nodded, giving his okay. All three of the girls flew up and out of their seats, and hovered above the table. The faces of the three alt-girls immediately lit up, their eyes glued on them in absolute astonishment.

Bubbles giggled, and said, "And we don't _just_ fly...we're also super strong!" Bubbles flew down underneath the table, and lifted it up into the air, with no difficulty at all.

The alt-girls screamed with joy, and clapped their hands. Alt-Bubbles said, "That's so cool! I can't believe it!"

"Yeah," Buttercup said, "and we have eyebeams and stuff, too, watch..."

She powered up her eyebeams, ready to fire them, but the professor said, "I don't think it's such a good idea to go shooting them inside the house like this. You can show them later."

"All right," she said, and she landed back in her seat.

Alt-Buttercup was still impressed, and asked, "How did you get your powers, anyway?"

"I can answer that," the professor replied. "It was when I was mixing up the recipe for the perfect little girls..."

"Ah yes," alt-Professor said, thoughtfully. "Sugar, spice, and everything nice. Mix well, and let sit for twenty-four hours..."

"Well, it didn't exactly turn out like that," the professor admitted. "You see, while I was mixing it, I had, er, sort of an mishap ...the handle of my mixing spoon accidentally smashed into a beaker sitting nearby, containing Chemical X, and it poured into the mix..."

Alt-Professor rubbed his chin, and said, "That's what did it, eh? Well, at least now I know what Chemical X _does_. It's been sitting on the shelf down in my lab for _ages_."

"Ahh, so it was never added to your mix, then?" The professor rubbed his own chin, similarly to alt-Professor, and said, "That would certainly explain the lack of powers in _your_ girls."

Blossom was confused at something, though. "Hey wait...if we don't protect Townsville, then who is? I mean, Townsville is invaded, or attacked, or _something_, almost every day..."

"That's right," Buttercup said, "so how come the city isn't a pile of ash by now? Even _one_ attack from a giant monster probably would have destroyed it."

All three of the alt-girls ducked down behind the edge of the table at the mention of giant monsters. "What are you talking about?" alt-Professor said. "This city couldn't be quieter. We don't get any 'giant monsters' around here..."

"No?" Bubbles asked. "What about the bad guys? Doesn't Mojo Jojo live here?"

Alt-Blossom scratched her head, "Mojo...Jojo? You mean, Jojo?" At the sound of that name, there was a sound in the other room, and suddenly, a small ape came into the room, happily approaching the table to answer whoever called him.

"Jojo?" the professor exclaimed. "It _is_ Jojo! _Now_ I think I understand what happened..." Jojo climbed up onto the table, and all six of the girls watched him, particularly the PowerPuffs. "You see, in our world, Jojo here is actually one of the girls' greatest arch-enemies, Mojo Jojo."

Alt-Buttercup said, "Really? But he's just a sweet little monkey..."

"Well," the professor added, "he's also an evil genius mastermind in our world. But then again, he received his heightened intelligence from the same accident that gave my girls their powers...so I guess it makes sense that he would remain as just Jojo in _this_ dimension."

Alt-Bubbles laughed, and tickled Jojo under the chin, "Hear that, Jojo? You're a mean old bad guy! That's just too funny!" Jojo clapped his hands in appreciation.

Blossom looked up, "But there are still a lot of others, too...Princess, for example..."

Alt-Blossom said, "Oh, Princess Morebucks? She's in our class at school...she's kind of a royal pain in the neck, if you know what I mean..."

"Oh, I do," Blossom nodded. "Of course, it _was_ her wanting to be a PowerPuff girl that really made her become truly evil in the first place. You know, I'm guessing we won't find Him hanging around here, either. He probably doesn't have any interest in the city, since _we're_ not here...and no Amoeba Boys, since they just wanted to impress _us_ by becoming criminals..." Her face fell, a little, "Wow, I guess I didn't realize how many of these villains _we_ really created."

"That still doesn't explain the monsters!" Buttercup pointed out.

"Yes it does, Buttercup," Blossom answered. "Remember? They all came from that one place, Monster Island, just to do battle with _us_. Let's face it: maybe we _aren't_ superheroes here, but they don't _need_ superheroes anyway."

Alt-Blossom leaned forward across the table, "Hey, can you tell us all about all those villains and monsters you were talking about? I wanna hear how we saved the day!"

"Sure!" Bubbles replied. They began to tell the stories of their various battles and conflicts. The alt-girls thoroughly enjoyed listening to them, about all the great adventures their alter-egos had gone on. They could still hardly believe it, even after all that they had heard. It took hours for them to tell it all...

* * *

Night was beginning to fall across Townsville. Alt-Professor was down in his lab, with the professor, completing some of the projects he was working on. In the meantime, all the girls were still gathered around, talking to each other and catching up on each other's lives. Occasionally, the PowerPuffs had another story to tell, and the alt-girls were always eager to listen to it.

"This...Him...sounds like a scary guy," alt-Buttercup said. "Didja ever feel like running away from him?"

"Heck, no!" Buttercup replied. "I'm not afraid of Him! Why, if he were here right now, I'd flatten him with one punch!" She shadowboxed in the air, "Bam! Pow! End of story."

Alt-Bubbles gazed out of the window, and said, "I wish I could've seen you saving the day...I can just imagine it..." She turned away from the window, and said, "A huge creature rises up out of the woods, stomping towards the town..." Outside the window behind her, as she spoke, a huge monster slowly rose over the treetops, and it looked like it was heading in their direction.

Alt-Blossom and alt-Buttercup pointed at the window, and stammered, "B--B--Bubbles..." Alt-Bubbles turned around, and when she saw the monster stomping towards the house, she screamed, backing away from the window in fear. The monster let loose a loud roar that seemed to shake the house, even from as far away as it was.

The PowerPuffs, in the meantime, leapt into the air, hovering, and Blossom shouted, "C'mon, girls! Let's roll!" They shot out of the house in a flash of light, flying out to battle the monster, while the alt-girls ran up to the window, pressing their faces on the glass and looking out at them.

They circled in the air high above the monster, and all three opened fire with their eyebeams. The monster was pushed back a few steps, and it swatted at them with a large, clawed hand. The girls nimbly dodged it, dashed in for its head, opening up with a flurry of punches, which knocked the monster around and caused it to totter, almost losing its balance.

Blossom took a deep breath and blew a cloud of cold air at the monster, encasing it in ice. All three girls flew down towards its feet, and shot back up, as one, to uppercut it in the chin. The monster was knocked into the air, and disappeared over the horizon, miles away.

The alt-girls, watching all this, were overjoyed. They started cheering, as the PowerPuffs returned to the house. Alt-Blossom said, "That was so cool! It was...and you...wow!"

Alt-Buttercup agreed, "Yeah! And then you....Bam! Pow! Just like you said!"

"It was awesome!" added alt-Bubbles. "Oh, I wish I could do that!"

"Me too!" said alt-Blossom.

Alt-Buttercup nodded, "Yeah! Maybe we can get the professor to give _us_ powers, too!"

"Hmm," Blossom said, thinking about it for a moment. "Maybe he can...I mean, if _we_ have powers, maybe the professor can do something with Chemical X to give them to _you_, too..."

"PROFESSOR!" alt-Bubbles shouted at the top of her lungs.

Both of the professors emerged from the lab when they heard the shout, and alt-Professor said, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Professor!" she said, running over to him. "Can you give us powers like the PowerPuff Girls?"

Alt-Professor was taken aback, "What? I..I don't know...Professor, do _you_ know if it's possible?"

"I'm afraid I don't," the professor responded. "I'm not even entirely certain how the whole interaction with the Chemical X works, anyway. It's such a delicate matter..."

"I agree," alt-Professor said. "According to my _own_ tests, Chemical X's radioactivity is outside of the safe range for normal humans, and it can be highly toxic. I realize that the girls aren't exactly 'normal humans', but still, it's too risky."

"But, Professor..." alt-Buttercup began.

"No buts," alt-professor said sternly. "Listen, we'll work on the problem in the morning if that makes you feel better. As for right now, it's late. Off to bed with you three." The alt-girls lowered their heads sadly, and walked upstairs.

"Well, I suppose we should be heading back home as well," the professor sighed. He took out the HCMD and tuned it back to their home dimension.

"Nonsense, you can stay the night if you'd like," alt-Professor said. "That way, we can get back to work early. I'd better have a talk with the girls tomorrow, too. I think all this superhero business might be going to their heads..."

* * *

Much later, in the middle of the night, all was quiet across the house. The PowerPuffs were asleep on the couch in the living room, and the professor was nearby, sleeping in an easy chair. As they slept, three shapes cautiously made their way down the stairs, and crossed the room quietly, going into the kitchen. They carefully pushed open the door to the lab, and walked down the steps, closing the door behind them. One of them reached out and turned on one of the small lamps so that they could see.

Alt-Blossom stepped into the light, followed closely by alt-Bubbles and alt-Buttercup. She said, "It's got to be around here somewhere, where does he keep it?"

"Shhh!" alt-Buttercup whispered, "Do you want to get us into trouble? Now be quiet, and let's look..."

They walked from table to table. Though they weren't tall enough to see the entire table, they could still make out the beakers and test tubes sitting on them. Alt-Blossom said, "How are we even gonna know it when we see it?"

"A big 'X'," replied alt-Buttercup, "just look for something that has a big 'X' on it."

Alt-Bubbles looked uneasy, "I dunno about this...if the professor finds us here..."

"Don't worry so much! He has no idea," alt-Buttercup said. "Besides, you wanna be a superhero, don't you?" Alt-Bubbles nodded. "Well, then, keep looking!"

They kept looking, until they finally spotted it, a large beaker sitting up on one of the tables. It was labeled simply with an 'X', and filled with a dark black liquid. Sitting next to it were several test tubes, filled with the same liquid, and also marked with 'X's. "That's it...Chemical X!" exclaimed alt-Buttercup.

"Hmm," alt-Blossom said, thinking about it, "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Of course! It worked for the other girls, didn't it?" alt-Buttercup said.

"Well, yeah, but..." alt-Blossom shook her head, "I don't think we should be doing this. The professor said that it could be dangerous..."

"Aw, come on!" alt-Buttercup chided, "What are you afraid of?"

"I just think we should listen to the professor, that's all."

"But we're talking _superpowers_ here!" Alt-Buttercup waved her arms in the air, "We'll be able to fly! Fire beams from our eyes! We'll be strong!"

Alt-Blossom nodded, "I know, but..."

"That's okay...if you're too chicken, I'll be the first one to try it."

"Hey, I didn't say I was..."

"...chicken?" alt-Buttercup interrupted. "Sure you are."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"Am _not_!"

"Are _to_!"

They were interrupted by a *ding* of glass against metal. They looked over...alt-Bubbles had climbed up on a box next to the table, and had pulled one of the test tubes from the rack. She had that test tube up to her lips, and was drinking from it.

"Bubbles!" Alt-Blossom said, in surprise.

Alt-Bubbles finished drinking the Chemical X, and coughed a few times, "Yuck! It tastes awful..." Still clutching the test tube, she climbed down from the table. The other two girls helped her down.

"So, do you feel anything yet?" alt-Buttercup asked.

"Not really...I just..." Alt-Bubbles tried to catch her breath. "I'm feeling...a little dizzy..."

"Are you okay?" alt-Blossom asked, concerned.

Alt-Bubbles' eyes half-closed, and she swayed unsteadily for a moment. The test tube fell out of her hand, and broke against the floor. She held her head, and said, "I...I d--....don't fe--....su..."

Her eyes rolled back, and she suddenly toppled over. Dark circles seemed to form around the edges of her eyes, and a little bit of drool came from her mouth. The girls gasped, and shouted, "B--Bubbles? Bubbles?"

In a weak voice, almost a whisper, alt-Bubbles muttered incoherently, "...t...gh...s..."

"PROFESSOR!" alt-Blossom yelled as loud as she could, horrified.

In almost no time, alt-Professor appeared at the door. He looked into the basement, "Girls? What are you doing in my lab..." He trailed off, as he saw alt-Bubbles lying on the floor. He spotted the broken Chemical X test tube next to her, and realized what had happened. "Oh no..."

The girls ran over to him, crying...they both began talking at once, "Professor! We just...we came down here and...and then she drank..."

The professor made his way past them, and ran over to alt-Bubbles scooping her up, "Bubbles? Can you hear me?" he said desperately. She didn't give any reaction. He quickly started checking her vitals.

The professor and the PowerPuffs appeared at the door, peering in. When he saw alt-Professor holding alt-Bubbles, and the other girls crying, the professor asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

"Bubbles drank one of the vials of Chemical X..." alt-professor replied, quickly. He finished checking her vitals, and said, "She's not breathing! And...and her pulse is getting weaker! We've got to do something! Professor, is there any way to counteract the effects of Chemical X?"

"Yes," the professor said, "Antidote X, if we had any, but it takes time to make..."

At that moment, alt-Bubbles' pulse disappeared entirely. "She's going into cardiac arrest! We need to get her to the hospital, quickly!"

The professor nodded, turning to the PowerPuffs, "Girls, fly her down there right aw--"

They broke off, as suddenly, they noticed something strange. Alt-Bubbles' skin was glowing very faintly. The glow got steadily brighter and brighter. "Wha...what on Earth...?" alt-Professor said, dumbfounded.

She continued to glow brighter, until the room was filled with a brilliant, blinding white light. Everyone shut their eyes against it. After a few moments, it slowly faded back out again. Everyone blinked a few times to get their vision back...but were unprepared for what they saw.

Alt-Bubbles was missing, no longer in alt-Professor's hands, who was still sitting on the ground. Instead, he opened his hands slowly, revealing what he was holding: a handful of sugar, spice, and everything nice. A tear rolled down the side of his face, and he whispered quietly, "No...Bubbles, no..." Everyone fell silent, except for the other alt-girls, whose cries now echoed through the stillness of the lab....

* * *

There was a cold breeze the following morning. The professor and the PowerPuffs were gathered out in front of the house. Alt-Professor was with them, but the two alt-girls were inside, still crying almost non-stop from the night. Blossom's head was hung as she said, "I'm sorry...this was all our fault..."

"Yeah," Buttercup added, sadly, "If we hadn't shown up, this never would have happened..."

"You couldn't have known," alt-Professor replied. "I didn't even know the girls would take it like this. They were just so taken by the idea of becoming superheroes...but I blame myself, too. I'm going to keep the lab locked from now on. Leaving it unlocked was a disaster waiting to happen."

"It's too late for your Bubbles, though," Bubbles said, still quite broken up about it herself. "I wish...I wish I could stay here with you...to make it up to you..."

"That's all right, Bubbles," alt-Professor said. "Your place is back in your world. If you're going to do anything, I hope you learn from this, that great responsibility comes with your powers, not only to use them in the service of good, but the repercussions it has on others."

Blossom promised, "We will." Alt-Professor nodded, and walked back into the house, waving one last time. Blossom tried to force a smile as she waved back, but her heart really wasn't in it.

The professor readied the HCMD, and prepared to open up the vortex back to their world. He said, "We'd better return, now..."

"Professor," Blossom said, "I feel awful about this whole thing...after we get back, I never want to go on one of these trips again..."

"Are you sure?" he said, concerned.

Blossom nodded, and Buttercup spoke up, "Me either...I don't wanna risk the same thing happening...I couldn't go through watching it again..."

"Me either..." Bubbles agreed.

"If that's how you really feel, it's your decision," the professor said. "I'll let you three think it over some more when we get back..." He hit the button on the HCMD, opening the vortex. As the four of them prepared to step through, all of them gave a final glance back at the house, then disappeared through. It sealed up behind them, leaving the stillness of the morning's cold air once again...

**__**

THE END


	7. Vermin Nation

EXCURSION 7 - "Vermin Nation" **__**

EXCURSION 7 - "Vermin Nation"

By: Mark J. Hadley

A week had passed since the last time either Professor Utonium or the PowerPuff Girls had made a dimensional trip using the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device. After the unfortunate events of their last encounter, they decided to wait for a while, so that they could think things over. The professor wanted to continue making trips in order to gather more data, but he respected the girls' decision and put his field research on hold.

It was late at night. The girls were fast asleep upstairs, and all was quiet in the Utonium household. In the darkness of the kitchen, however, a strange, soft glow suddenly filled the room, and in a spark of electricity, a large, swirling vortex opened up. A single figure stepped forth from it, and it immediately sealed up, the room returning to darkness once more.

The visitor glanced about him nervously. He muttered, "It...it worked...I'm here! And it's all still intact!" He glanced at the device in his hand, and said, "At last, a glimmer of hope! Maybe now, I can save everyone..." He made his way cautiously out of the kitchen, through the darkness, and climbed the steps leading upstairs. He crept down the hallway, and very slowly opened the door to the PowerPuff Girls' room.

Upon seeing the girls asleep in their bed, he bit his lip, a sad smile crossing his face. He walked into the room, standing by the edge of their bed, and whispered to himself, "My little angels..."

Buttercup stirred, and looked up through half-closed eyes, "Uhh...wha?" He saw the man standing by the edge of the bed. She recognized the silhouette from the hall light, and mumbled, "Professor?"

As he came into focus, though, he looked different. His hair was messy and disheveled, he looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks, and his lab coat was all torn and ragged. Buttercup said, surprised, "Wh...what happened to you?"

Instead of answering, the professor suddenly scooped all three girls up out of bed, hugging them tightly. This naturally woke up Blossom and Bubbles, as the professor said, "Oh, it _is_ you! I missed you so much, girls..." A tear dribbled down his cheek.

"Hey!" Blossom exclaimed, taken by surprise, "What's wrong, professor?"

A moment later, another shape appeared at the door...it, too, was the professor, also in a somewhat disheveled condition, but in his case it was less severe, looking more like he had just woken up. He froze, spotting the other professor in the room, and said, "Great Scott! What's going on in here?"

The alternate Professor looked up, and said, "HCMD, Professor...does that explain it?"

Without hesitating, the professor remarked, "Now _we're_ the ones being visited, hm? I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. So, what brings you to _our_ neck of the woods, Professor?"

Alt-Professor released the girls back onto the bed, and said, "I can't stay for long." He pulled an HCMD out of his lab coat, and said, "I need to take the girls back with me, to my world..."

"Huh? Why?" Bubbles asked.

"It's something of vital consequence," alt-Professor replied, fiddling with the controls on the HCMD. "Don't worry, I'll tell you everything when we get back."

Blossom looked concerned, but said, "Listen, we've gone dimensional traveling before, and recently we've had a bad experience...I don't really want to go traveling again anytime soon..."

Alt-Professor suddenly spoke fiercely, "Listen! This is _extremely_ important, not only to the safety of my own world, but countless others, including yours! But if we don't hurry, it may be too late. Every moment counts. You have to trust me...if you don't come with me, it could mean the end of _everything_!"

The girls remained silent, thinking over this. Blossom finally glanced over at the Professor, who slowly nodded back, and said, "Go ahead, girls. Just be careful."

She smiled, and said, "Right. Let's do it!" Buttercup and Bubbles nodded. Alt-Professor smiled, almost with joy, and activated his HCMD, opening up a new vortex. He quickly jumped through, and the other girls flew in after him. The professor watched as the vortex sealed back up, and whispered, "Good luck..."

* * *

They emerged from the vortex, stepping out into what looked like the PowerPuff Girls' room once again. It was dark, though, and in poor condition. The bed was unmade, yet it looked like it hadn't been slept in for some time. Various toys and pieces of furniture around the room were broken or knocked over. One of the windows was also cracked. The girls glanced around at the room as the vortex sealed behind them. 

"All right, we're here," Buttercup said, "now would you mind telling us why you brought us here?"

The professor started walking out of the room briskly, and said, "Follow me; I'll tell you as we go." The girls stayed close behind him as he headed downstairs, talking as he went. "A deadly force has swept across Townsville, and if it continues, it will destroy the rest of the world as well..."

"What kind of force?" Blossom asked, noticing as they went that the rest of the house was also pretty run-down.

He walked over to the large window in the living room, which were covered by a tattered set of curtains. "Let me show you," he said, drawing them aside. The girls gasped at what they saw. It was the city of Townsville, but even in the dim moonlight, they could see the horror that had befallen it. Every building, at first, seemed to be wriggling as though with a life of its own, but then it became clear that the buildings themselves were crawling with something, a carpet-like mass that completely obscured each structure in Townsville. It wasn't a single entity, but rather, myriads of tiny creatures.

Bubbles stammered, "Wh-what are they?"

"Roaches," the professor answered. "Billions of them..."

"Then...it must be…Roach Coach? _He's_ behind this, isn't he?" Blossom said. "But...but even if he gathered up every roach in the whole _state_, he wouldn't have _that_ many!"

"That's right." The professor gazed out at the city, his expression set. "Let me explain...a month ago, he escaped from prison, and went out to gather his army once again. His first step was infiltrating my laboratory, which was easy, to find a way to defeat the PowerPuff Girls. He didn't find what he was looking for, but instead, he stumbled across my plans for the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device."

He closed the curtains and started walking towards the lab. The girls followed him, and he went on with his story, "The plans were incomplete at the time, but he was intelligent enough with electronics to finish them himself. With his own HCMD, he began instead to travel to other dimensions, gathering up armies of insects from each one he visited, until finally he returned. By then, he had massed such a huge amount of roaches that he was completely unstoppable."

Buttercup frowned, "Didn't _we_ do anything to help? _Your_ PowerPuff Girls, I mean?"

"They tried." The professor hesitated, taking a deep breath, and continued, "There were far too many of them, even for you girls. But even worse, Roach Coach had apparently discovered something in one of the dimensions: a world that had been devastated by nuclear war, and just as scientists had predicted, a race of monstrous, unstoppable giant roaches lived there. Two of them came back with Roach Coach to our world, to act as his personal guardians. My girls fought them, but these super-roaches had strength and power that exceeded their own. All three of the girls were beaten and...and devoured...right before my eyes..."

"That's...that's awful..." Blossom said softly, almost a whisper.

Even Buttercup looked shaken, "Oh man..."

"With no one to stop him," the Professor added, "he overran the town easily. I'm afraid it's too late for Townsville now, but perhaps we can save the rest of the world...and many other worlds as well."

"What do you mean, other worlds?" Bubbles asked.

The professor waved his arms in the air, "Don't you see? He has his own HCMD...once he finishes with conquering the world _here_, he can just bring his whole army to another world, and conquer _it_ as well. And another, and another, and so on. It could mean the end of _everything_. That's why I worked extra hard to complete the HCMD...I knew that only then would we be able to find help from the PowerPuff Girls once again."

Blossom nodded, "I understand now. We _have_ to stop him, or everyone _everywhere_ will be doomed." She thought for a moment, and said, "The only problem is, what can we do? If the super-roaches were stronger than us _then_, we won't stand a chance _now_ either."

"You know about them ahead of time, that will give you an advantage," the professor said. "I know you can find a way to beat 'em...what do you say?"

Blossom glanced at her sisters, then smiled and said, "All right. The world depends on us; we'll stop them, I promise!"

* * *

Elsewhere, in the center of Townsville, a single, unique structure rose up amongst the skyscrapers, although it itself was not a building. Comprised entirely of roaches clinging to each other, the giant mound of insects remained solid and steady, unlike their billions of brethren that were crawling around the rest of the city. Up in the center of it all was their master, Roach Coach, controlling a human-shaped robot much like the one he had before. Two enormous mutant roaches flanked him on either side.

All had been quiet this night, as he planned his next move. Townsville was already his, and it was time to begin to put phase two into action. But now, something new was happening. He held a Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device in his hand, peering at the screen intently. For the second time in the past half-hour, it had picked up a dimensional disturbance someplace. "Hmm," he grunted, "It's comin' from outside the town. It's gotta be Professor Utonium. That idiot, what does he think he's gonna accomplish? I already destroyed those stinkin' PowerPuff Girls of his!"

One of the roaches at his side chittered softly. He glanced over at it, and answered, "Ya got a point, Eddie. He probably _did_ go to try and find help..." His expression suddenly changed to anger. "The girls! He probably went ta get more of those girls!" He shook a fist in the air, "That does it! To arms, my brothers! We're steppin' up our plans _right now_!"

* * *

The four of them were gathered around the kitchen table, discussing their strategy. So far, though, they had exhausted almost every available option. "What if we fly really high?" Bubbles suggested. "They're just roaches, right? _They_ can't fly."

"Sorry," the Professor said, "but that wouldn't work. The super-roaches have evolved strong wings as well. And they're quite fast, even in the air."

Buttercup slumped on the table, "This stinks! They gotta have _some_ kind of weakness!"

The professor shook his head, "Don't forget, they came from a world devastated by nuclear war. They're true survivors. Even with all my scientific knowledge, I can't think of a way to defeat them either. I thought maybe together we could come up with something, but now I'm not sure..."

Bubbles drifted over to the kitchen window to look at the city again, still crawling with roaches as before. "They haven't left to take over the world yet...can we do something while they're still all in one place?"

"That's not a bad idea, Bubbles," Blossom said, thinking. "Professor, what about just dropping a big bomb on Townsville? If it's too late to save the town _anyway_, then I guess we don't have to worry about destroying it..."

"Hmm, that could work...there _is_ an old atomic missile silo not far from Townsville," the professor mused. Then he said, "Wait, no. The last thing we want to do is detonate an atomic bomb anywhere _near_ the city."

Buttercup said, "Why? If they're all together, wouldn't that be the easiest way to take 'em all out at once?"

"Yes, but don't forget that roaches can survive intense radiation," he replied. "In fact, such close proximity to a blast might cause them to mutate much faster, and...and..." He trailed off. After an awkward silence, he said, "Girls, I just realized something..."

Bubbles interrupted him, "Professor! Look!" She pointed out the window at the buildings in the distance. The roaches were slowly receding from the buildings, pouring down towards the ground below. "They're moving!"

"What?" Blossom said, flying over to the window to see. Buttercup and the professor joined her. "Which way are they going?"

The huge mass of roaches moved like a flood out of the city, leaving the city limits. However, a moment later, it split into two groups. One continued on the way out of the city, while the other turned and started heading...

"...directly towards us!" Bubbles yelled. "What do we do?!"

"Don't panic! Let's just get out of here!" Blossom said, quickly. The three of them picked up the Professor and flew with him out the front door. They quickly gained some altitude as the enormous surge of roaches poured into the suburbs like a tidal wave. They blanketed the area almost twenty feet deep, but luckily the girls managed to mostly stay above it. A few managed to leap onto them, but they quickly shook them off.

"Get 'em off, get 'em off!" Bubbles shrieked, brushing the last of the roaches off of her.

As the professor surveyed the landscape, he saw the direction the other half of the roaches were heading. "Oh no, it's just as I feared! Girls, they're heading for the missile silo I was talking about!"

"You mean..." Buttercup began.

"Yes!" he replied. "Roach Coach is probably going to detonate the nuclear missile that's there...and if he does, the radiation could mutate all those roaches directly into the same hideous super-roaches that he found in the other dimension!"

"What?" Blossom exclaimed. "Then...then there would be...billions of them?"

The professor nodded, "That's right...a whole army of unstoppable monsters! If even _you_ girls would lose against them, then the _rest_ of the world, and countless other dimensions, would be completely powerless against even _one_ of them, let alone a billion!"

Blossom looked into the distance where the roaches were heading, and said, "There's still a chance, if we can get to the silo before _they_ do. C'mon, girls, let's move!" They shot off as fast as they could, towards the silo, hoping to beat the insect horde there before it was too late...

* * *

They arrived at the base. It was deserted, as the military had fled the site when they got word of the unstoppable danger heading their way. All was quiet, but even now they could see the dark mass on the horizon growing ever closer. The girls landed, setting the professor down.

"Okay, we're here...now, how do we stop 'em?" Buttercup asked.

"First thing's first, Buttercup," answered Blossom. "We have to ditch the bomb." With that, she landed down by the silo hatch in the ground, and ripped the doors off quickly. The giant nuclear missile sat in launch position underneath, no sign of activity evident.

All three of the girls flew into the hatch and grabbed hold of the bomb, pulling it free from its supports. They lifted it out slowly from the silo, being extra careful not to scrape it against the edge, lest they do something to accidentally set it off.

"Easy...easy..." Blossom warned. With a little effort, they finally got it completely out of the silo. "Ok, perfect!" she said. "Now, on the count of three...one...two..._three_!"

All three of the girls threw the bomb as hard as they could straight up. It soared quickly out of sight, well on it's way to deep space. Buttercup dusted off her hands, and said, "Piece o' cake."

"Ah, girls?" the professor shouted. They looked over, and saw that the huge flood of roaches were now almost at the edge of the base...and the professor was still down on the ground, with no where to run to. He shouted, "A little help, here? And hurry?"

The girls quickly flew down and picked him up. As they did, the roaches reached the fence around the perimeter, crashing through it and pouring into the base. Flying up to safety, they watched as the roaches all crawled into the open silo.

Blossom smiled, "Looks like we made it just in time." She spotted some fuel tanks near the edge of the silo, and said, "I have an idea...be right back!"

As Buttercup and Bubbles retained their grip on the Professor, Blossom released him and flew back down towards the silo. She fired her eyebeams very carefully, slicing open the edge of the fuel tanks without accidentally igniting the fuel inside. The fuel poured into the open silo, over all the roaches that were already inside, and she fired her eyebeams one last time, directly into the center. The fuel, and the roaches, burst into flame all at once, creating a huge fireball that exploded out of the mouth of the silo.

Blossom flew back up to the others, and said, "Well, that takes care of that..."

Bubbles, though, pointed in the other direction and said, "Blossom! Behind you!" As Blossom turned to look, she saw something flying towards them, something very big. It closed the distance between them very quickly, and she saw that it was one of the giant mutant super-roaches. Its wings were buzzing, and it was flying _extremely_ fast, the claws on its hands held out in front of it. The girls all darted upwards, as one of the super-roaches whizzed by just underneath, barely missing them.

Blossom shouted, "Let's get out of here!" As they started to fly away, they stopped...the other super-roach flew up in front of them, blocking their path. They turned around to head in the other direction, but the first super-roach had come about, and had trapped them between himself and the other super-roach.

They grew closer, and Bubbles said, "Wh--what do we do now?!"

The professor thought as fast as he could, and had an idea. He pulled the HCMD out of his lab coat and pointed it at the sky to their left. Pressing the button, he opened up a vortex, and said, "Hurry, girls!" They nodded, and escaped with him through it...before the super-roaches could follow them, it sealed up.

Down below, a few scattered groups of roaches were gathered around Roach Coach, who shook his fist in the air, "You fools! You let 'em escape!" He frowned, and pulled out his own HCMD, "Ah, but it doesn't matter...with the changes I made on this thing, I know _exactly_ where they went to..."

* * *

The girls emerged from the vortex. As far as they could tell, they were still in the same place, but there were no roaches about. Blossom wiped her forehead, and said, "Whew...that was fast thinking, Professor!"

He nodded, "Of course, now we're in a different dimension, but we can get back soon enough. Let's head back to Townsville, so that we come back in a different location than we left."

"You got it!" Buttercup said, and the three of them began flying back. On the way, it was pretty dark, but they could still make out the city in the distance...it was difficult, though, since none of the lights in the city were on.

They studied the buildings carefully as they approached, and Blossom wondered aloud, "What happened? Is the power out or something?"

"I think so," the professor mused...then he pointed at the street below, "Hey, look...there are people walking around down there..."

"Let's get a closer look," Blossom said. They flew down to the street, setting the professor down. Several people were shuffling along the sidewalk slowly, and more or less silently. Bubbles tapped one on the shoulder, "Excuse me, Miss..." The woman turned around, but whatever she was, she wasn't human...not exactly. Her face was a pale blue, her skin wrinkled and broken in spots, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her clothes were all tattered and ripped, and as she turned, she let out a low moan and reached out for Bubbles with thin, boney arms...

"Aaaaa!" Bubbles screamed, "Zombie!" As the girls looked around, more people from the street started heading in their direction, all of them in similar condition to the first one they saw. It looked like something out of a nightmare, or a horror movie.

The girls quickly picked the professor back up and flew into the air once again, to avoid the large number of zombies that now congregated in that part of the street. Blossom gave a brief shudder of revulsion, and said, "This is _one_ dimension I can safely say I don't want to come back to again…"

Alt-professor nodded, "Agreed. Now, let me just tune this thing back to your world…" He started inputting a set of coordinates. As he did this, Buttercup peered off into the distance in the direction they flew from. She thought she saw something…but before she could say anything, it came into view. IT was one of the super-roaches, with an HCMD in its hand.

"Look out!" Bubbles shouted, and the three of them quickly started to fly away as fast as they could. The super-roach flew after them, but they were slowly beginning to pull away from it. "Quickly," Bubbles shouted to alt-professor, "_do_ something!"

Without hesitation, the professor punched the button on the HCMD. He only had half the coordinates entered, and the other half were still random, but it was better than nothing. The vortex opened up, and they flew through. Buttercup paused before entering…she turned around and fired a blast from her eyebeams, pushing the super-roach back so that he couldn't follow through the same vortex. She quickly ducked through just before it closed.

Shaking off the hit, and otherwise undamaged, the super-roach lifted its HCMD and began to operate it, scanning to find out where they had gone to. It was smart enough to use it, but it took longer than someone like the professor or Roach Coach. It eventually succeeded, and opened his own vortex, pursuing them…

* * *

Alt-professor and the girls emerged from the vortex, not above Townsville, but rather, above a castle. They were confused, but then alt-professor remarked, "Hmm, I'd wager a guess that technology hasn't come very far in this world…"

"You're tellin' _me_…" Buttercup said. "So now what?"

"Let me finish putting the second part of the coordinates in, then we can return to your world," alt-professor replied, finishing up the settings on the HCMD as he spoke.

Blossom, in the meantime, looked below and said, "Uh, I think we've been noticed…"

Sure enough, there were several night sentries around the walls of the castle, and one of them was pointing frantically up at them, shouting, "Demons! Slay the beasts!" The rest of them raised longbows and crossbows, and began to fire a volley of arrows and bolts at them.

The girls yelped and quickly flew higher to avoid the projectiles, which whistled dangerously through the air around them. They weren't concerned as much for their own safety, but for alt-professor's. To make matters worse, they saw another vortex open up, and the super-roach emerged from it.

The sentry, who had called out before, gaped in horror and yelled, "More of them! Attack! Attack!" Another volley of arrows flew towards the super-roach…they stuck into it, but it merely shrugged it off and brushed the arrows away like a mere nuisance. It focused its attention back on the girls, but they weren't there anymore…they had disappeared through another vortex, and it sealed up before it could reach it…

* * *

They were back in Townsville at least. The girls made a beeline back to their house, and found the professor awake, waiting for word from them. "Girls!" he said. "I was worried…"

The girls set down alt-professor, who said, "There's not much time to explain. Professor, you need to use your HCMD, quickly. It's not going to be safe here much longer."

The professor was confused, but decided that, if he couldn't trust himself, who _could_ he trust? He withdrew his own HCMD and said, "What's this all about?"

"Roach Coach," Blossom said, and quickly explained the entire situation, about the roaches, the super-roaches, and the radiation, not to mention how Roach Coach has his own HCMD. As the professor listened, he nodded understandingly. Blossom finished, "…so now we need to find a way to stop them. We can't stay here, or else they'll just find us again."

Buttercup said, "Yeah…I hate all this running, but we can't beat 'em. They're too strong!"

"And scary," Bubbles added. "What do we do?"

"I have a suggestion," the professor said. He turned to alt-professor and asked, "You thought of this too, haven't you? It's the reason you came here in the _first_ place…turnabout is fair play, right?"

"Right," alt-professor nodded. "I figured if Roach Coach was going to enlist the aid of insects from other dimensions, the least I could do is try the same with the girls…"

The professor said, "Exactly…but why stop there? We can go get _more_ help…"

Blossom thought about this, then snapped her fingers, "Hey, I've got it! Professor…I mean, the other professor…let me borrow your HCMD. I have an idea." Alt-professor shrugged, but agreed, handing it over to her. She continued, "All right, now. Professor…_our_ professor…go find some other PowerPuff Girls to help us out. I'll be back shortly…"

"Where are you going?" Bubbles asked.

Blossom just smirked a little, as she changed the coordinates on the HCMD, and said, "To visit an old friend…" She punched the button and opened a vortex up, and waved, "I'll be back shortly!" She ducked through, and vanished, the vortex sealing up behind him.

The others looked towards the professor, who was setting his own HCMD. Buttercup asked, "Other PowerPuff Girls? I guess that would work, but…I mean, if _we're_ not tough enough, then _they_ wouldn't be able to do any good either, would they?"

"Well, we'll just have to find tougher girls, then," the professor said, "and I know just the place. Hold down the fort while I'm gone, okay?" He opened up a vortex and stepped through before they could say anything else.

Bubbles stared silently, "Now what?"

Buttercup folded her arms, "Guess we just wait here." She didn't have long to wait, though, as suddenly, the house shook as something slammed into the roof. "On second thought, let's get moving!" The two of them picked up alt-professor and quickly flew out the front door. The super-roach, which had landed on the roof, spotted them retreating and flew after them…

* * *

Blossom emerged from the vortex, and looked around. She was in the right house…it was different from their own, but she knew her way around it already. Luckily, no one had seen her show up, so she didn't have to explain her presence. She flew upstairs and quietly opened one of the bedroom doors, hovering inside. _There he is_, she thought, spotting him sleeping over in the bed.

Moving over, she shook the boy gently and whispered, "Hey…Dexter…wake up!"

Dexter's eyes blinked a few times, and he opened them slowly, "Wha…" Noticing only a pink blur in front of him, he immediately groaned, "DeeDee, it's the middle of the night…"

"No, I'm not DeeDee," Blossom said, "Listen, I need your help…"

Dexter reached over and picked up his glasses, putting them on so he could see more clearly. As Blossom came into focus, he sat up and said, "You?! What are _you_ doing here?"

Blossom couldn't help but grin a little, but she tried to remain serious, "It's a long story. I need your help to save the world…actually, to save _all_ the dimensions."

"Really?" he said. "Right now? It's late, can't it wait until morning?"

"No," she answered, shaking her head. "We gotta stop them now, tonight. Everything depends on you, Dexter; you're the only one that can help us now."

Blossom knew that playing on his ego would be a good idea. She saw the smile cross his face, and he exclaimed, "Well, then what are we waiting for? To the laboratory!"

* * *

Back in the other dimension, the girls were darting around the buildings in Townsville, trying to stay ahead of the pursuing super-roach. Bubbles turned and fired more eyeblasts at it every so often. She was just trying to keep it at bay, but it was beginning to anticipate her attacks, and started flying around them instead of getting hit by them.

Buttercup hoped that whatever Blossom and the professor were planning, they'd hurry. Now that the super-roach wasn't getting pushed back by the blasts anymore, it was slowly gaining on them. They tried everything to lose it, but nothing worked.

Finally, the three of them had circled almost completely around the city, and hid in the forest just outside of town. They paused to catch their breath, "We can't keep running forever…" Bubbles said.

"I know," Buttercup said. "That thing didn't even look tired at all, either…"

Alt-professor shook his head sadly, "You should have left me behind back there…I'm just slowing you two down."

"And let him get to you? No way!" Bubbles said.

A dark shape suddenly silhouetted the moon. The super-roach had discovered where they had gone too, much faster than they had anticipated. The girls screamed as he descended out of the sky far too quickly for them to react, and slammed them both into the ground, holding each one down with one of its claws. Alt-professor stared helplessly, and the thing looked over its shoulder at him evilly for a moment, before focusing its attention back on the girls.

Buttercup strained, but couldn't move, "Too…strong!" Bubbles also couldn't break free.

As the super-roach snapped its mandibles together in anticipation, alt-professor gasped in horror, and thought, _No, not again…I didn't want to have to see this again…_

Abruptly, three crimson beams intersected on the creature's position from the sky, knocking it away from the girls. Buttercup and Bubbles got back to their feet, glancing over at the super-roach, which slowly struggled to get back to its feet. They looked into the sky to see where the attack had come from.

Three PowerPuff girls hovered in the air, arms folded across their chests, but they looked different. Alt-Blossom was missing her bow and hairpin, and she and alt-Bubbles both wore their hair down. Alt-Buttercup's face and arms were covered with scars. The biggest difference, though, was their outfits…black, with a stripe of color across the waist…

"Hey, those look like…" Buttercup began. She had never seen them before, but the professor had told them about the girls he met on his very first dimensional trip, and they matched the description. Now they were here, and she had to admit, they looked even tougher than she had pictured them.

Alt-Blossom spoke, "The professor told us we'd find you here. Seems you have a bug problem…"

Smashing one fist into her other, alt-Buttercup said, "Time to exterminate."

Alt-Bubbles nodded, "Let's do it." The three alt-girls dove down towards the super-roach. It looked up at them and tried to raise its claws in defense, but they were upon it in an instant, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks to its exoskeleton. Bubbles and Buttercup quickly flew back to a safe distance near alt-professor to watch.

Amazingly, the alt-girls seemed to be holding their own. Their punches were decidedly stronger, and a few times, the super-roach looked like it was dazed from the blows it was receiving. Alt-Buttercup slammed into its back with a double-fisted punch, and as the creature hit the ground, they could see a crack forming in the exoskeleton on its back.

"They're winning!" Bubbles exclaimed.

At once, though, the super-roach swept all of its claws out in a dangerous arc. It knocked into each of the alt-girls, causing them to recoil back, but they regained their balance almost as quickly. By this time, however, a strange green glow had come from the crack on its back, and it sealed up.

"Aw man, this stinks!" Buttercup said incredulously. "They can heal themselves, too?"

Alt-Buttercup "Doesn't matter…when I get done with him, there won't be anything of him _left_ to heal!" She dashed in and grabbed the creature by the throat, pummeling it in the face with her free hand over and over again. The other two flew behind it and fired their eyebeams, slowly working on slicing its wings off. Buttercup decided that she couldn't just stand around and watch anymore, so she moved to one side and started helping with her own eyebeams. Bubbles did the same, from the opposite side.

Alt-Bubbles finished cutting halfway through one of the wings, and shouted, "It's working!"

Nodding, alt-Blossom ordered, "This thing'll be grounded in no time!"

Up until now, the creature had barely been able to mount any kind of offense against the girls, but finally, it reached up with two of its claws and grabbed hold of alt-Buttercup, prying her away from its neck. It flung her over its shoulder, directly into alt-Bubbles, knocking her out of the air, where they both landed in the ground at the base of a tree.

"Bubbles! Buttercup!" alt-Blossom shouted, stopping her eyebeams for a moment to see if they were all right. That was all that the super-roach needed, though, as it spun around, ignoring the blasts from Bubbles and Buttercup at his side, and struck her with a punch that knocked her clear through the trunk of a nearby tree. It reached out in the next moment, grabbing both Bubbles and Buttercup out of the air, and smashed their heads together in front of itself. He threw them both into the same tree alt-Blossom had just flown through.

Its back was to the professor now, and he could see a glow around the edges of its wings, as the cuts the alt-girls made were healing. _This is not good_, he thought.

Alt-Bubbles and alt-Buttercup got up, both rubbing their heads. Alt-Buttercup said, "Man, that thing's tough."

"At least we know we can hurt it," alt-Blossom said, returning to the fight. "I don't know if that's good enough, though. We have to try something else…"

"How about some help?" a voice shouted from above the treetops. Everyone looked up, and they saw Blossom hovering there. She was carrying a huge weapon of some sort, kind of like a large laser cannon. Cables from the weapon linked to a large power pack on her back. The whole thing hummed with enormous power. "I'm back…better late then never, huh?"

"Blossom!" Bubbles and Buttercup both said together, picking themselves up from where they landed earlier. "Where did you _get_ that thing?"

"Allow me to explain," another voice said. Stepping out from the woods, Dexter came into view. He was armed with a weapon identical to Blossom's. He continued, "All she had to tell me was 'giant radioactive mutated cockroaches' and I knew _just_ the tool for the job…my Ballistic Anti-Radiation Beam Ionization Emitter!"

Alt-professor looked confused, "Uhh…B.A.R.B.I.E.?"

Dexter's eyes widened for a moment, then he said, "Ah, er…actually, let's just call it the Anti-Radiation Gun…heh heh…"

The super-roach decided not to wait around any longer, and it flew up in the air towards Blossom. Alt-Blossom called out, "Look out!" Blossom stood her ground, though, raising the weapon and firing. A bright green beam of energy emitted from the barrel, striking the creature dead-on. As the energy washed over it, its form started to shift and change, seeming to shrink. The beam stopped, and a single, lone cockroach fell to the ground. It was perfectly average in every way.

"Whoa…" alt-Buttercup said, awed.

"I know, I know, isn't it great?" Dexter said. He flipped a switch on the side of his weapon and said, "It doubles as a high-powered laser rifle, too!" With that, he fired a quick blast from the weapon at the roach that was left over. It exploded, leaving a small smoking crater behind. He smiled smugly, "Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself…"

"I'll say," Buttercup remarked. "That was _really_ easy…we shouldn't have a problem bringing down Roach Coach _now_…"

All of them gathered in the center of the clearing to decide their next move. Bubbles, though, was talking with alt-Bubbles instead. She said, "Hey…I didn't realize how cute that looks, with my hair down."

Alt-Bubbles managed a smile, and said, "Thanks…I kinda liked the pigtails when I had them, but it was such a hassle after a while…this is so much easier."

Meanwhile, Buttercup was busy talking with alt-Buttercup, "That was some awesome fighting! And you know what…I thought I'd look nasty with scars, but it's actually pretty cool-looking."

Shrugging, alt-Buttercup said, "I don't look at 'em that often, but yeah, they _are_ kinda like trophies…each one reminds me of a villain we fought."

While this went on, Dexter and alt-professor were having a discussion about something or other relating to science. As it turned out, only the two Blossoms were actually discussing strategy. "I think we should go back to Roach Coach's dimension and take out his other super-roach. Then we can mop up the remaining roaches, and take _him_ down once all his help is gone."

"Sounds good," alt-Blossom said. "Although, we really _should_ strike directly at the heart of the matter. Without Roach Coach, without a leader, they'll fall apart." She cast a glance over at Dexter, and grinned slightly, "So…who's that, anyway? Someone you met on your travels, I take it?"

Blossom blushed slightly, lowering her eyes, and said, "Yeah…you could say that…"

"Hey," alt-Blossom said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She whispered, "Don't look so embarrassed… I know what you're thinking, I think he's kinda cute too."

"Welllll…" Blossom said, blushing a little more.

Alt-Blossom insisted, "You should tell him, really…"

"Heh…" she chuckled to herself. "M-maybe another time…"

As they spoke, the professor emerged from the woods. They all turned to look at him. He called out, "Hello everyone…did I miss everything?"

"Not _everything_," alt-Professor said. "We're just working on a strategy for attacking Roach Coach now. I think that whatever we decide on, we should probably get moving. Who knows what he's up to right now? He might have found another bomb for all we know."

Dexter's watch beeped, and he glanced at the readout on it. He said, "I'd hate to interrupt, but, ah, we have company…I have just picked up an extra-dimensional surge…"

"From where?" Blossom asked.

"Four miles east of here," Dexter said.

Blossom nodded, and flew up above the treetops to get a better look. What she saw made her gasp, "Oh no…"

Worried, Bubbles asked, "What is it?"

Blossom replied, "Trouble…" Off in the distance, she could see the faint glow of a vortex, and pouring out from it were thousands and thousands of roaches, like someone had just turned on an invisible tap of water in midair. She also saw two larger shapes: the other super-roach…and Roach Coach himself…

* * *

Roach Coach growled in anger as he emerged from the vortex. "I know they're here! This is where they all showed up…all I gotta do is stop 'em here, and there won't be any way to stop _us_!" He examined the readouts on his HCMD and said, "Now, we just gotta find 'em..."

"We're right here!" came a shout. He looked over, and saw a larger number of foes than he had expected. All three of the PowerPuff Girls were there, plus _another_ three. There were also _two_ Professor Utoniums, and a small boy that he didn't recognize. Both Blossom and the boy were armed with a large weapon.

Blossom, who had called out a few seconds ago, continued, "We know what you're up to, Roach Coach, and we won't let you go through with it!"

He was taken by surprise, but only for a moment, before he said, "Ah, so there's no more runnin' and hidin', huh? Ok, Jimmy, go get 'em!" The super-roach at his side nodded, and launched itself towards them.

He didn't get too far, though, as in the next instant, Dexter shot at it with his weapon, and before his eyes, the super-roach shrank, turning into a regular roach once again. "What?!" he exclaimed. "How can this be?! Arrrgh! That does it…_attack_!"

A large section of the roaches he had brought with him started swarming towards them. All of the PowerPuffs, except for Blossom, flew into the air and opened fire with their eyebeams, each aiming at separate parts of the oncoming horde. Blossom and Dexter, in the meantime, had flipped the switches on their weapons and started firing huge blasts of energy. Between the seven of them, not a single roach could get anywhere near them…they were vaporized before they even got close.

Frowning, Roach Coach snarled, "You haven't beaten me yet! I'm gonna stamp you out for good, annoyin' PowerPuffs!" All the rest of his roaches, which was still a sizable number, immediately flowed towards him, surrounding him. They rose up into the air, and although the girls knew what he was up to, they didn't expect the final outcome. The roaches had formed the shape of one giant insect, as he had once done a long time ago, but this one was comprised of many more than the original…it towered above the landscape, almost as big as the tallest building in Townsville. It loomed menacingly over them, prepared to strike.

"Uh oh…" Bubbles and alt-Bubbles said together.

Alt-Buttercup shouted, "Don't just stand there! Attack it!" She opened fire with her eyebeams at the thing, but it anticipated this move, and the roaches at the spot she was aiming moved aside, letting the beam pass harmlessly through it. The other girls took their own shots, and it did the same thing…not even a single roach was harmed.

With a growl, the giant roach swung a clawed hand down at them, swatting the five girls that were still flying right out of the air. All five smashed into the ground, leaving a large impact crater. Roach Coach laughed, and shouted, "You can't stop me! With my army of roaches at my command, I'm invincible!"

"Quick!" Dexter said, "Switch the B.A.R.B.--…err, the A.R.G. over to full power!" Blossom nodded, and both of them powered up the weapons. They aimed up at the approaching giant roach and fired two huge beams of energy, way too wide, they thought, for it to dodge as it had done with the eyebeams.

Unfortunately, it did just that. Two gaping holes appeared in it, and the beams missed it completely. Now that they had each fired a high-power blast, the weapons needed time to recharge…time that they realized they didn't have, for the giant roach was almost upon them.

It rose a foot up, ready to smash it down on top of them. The two professors looked at each other. Alt-Professor said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so," the professor answered, holding up his HCMD. The giant roach's foot started to come down from the air, heading right for them.

Nodding, alt-Professor said, "Okay, ready? _Now_!" They both punched the buttons on the HCMD at the same time, aiming at a spot in the air above them. The sparks of electricity struck each other at the same point, and a colossal vortex opened up in the air directly above them. The giant roach's foot came down in the vortex instead of hitting them, and as a result, the entire mass of roaches was off-balance. It tottered forward, and most of them fell into the vortex.

The head, though, managed to leap free. It landed safely on the ground, and the roaches scattered, revealing Roach Coach, who looked around and shouted, "Where are you going? Come back, you deserters!" In the next moment, the six girls surrounded him on all sides and floated there, arms folded. He waved his fists into the air and said, "Rrrrrgh, you may have defeated me this time, but I'll be back!"

With that, he raised his own HCMD and was about to use it when alt-Blossom snatched it from him and crushed it to pieces in her hand. She shook her head, "I think not…"

Alt-Buttercup immediately picked him up and said, "Yeah…have a nice trip, pal!" With that, she tossed him into the air, through the giant vortex, just before it closed up.

The girls landed back over by the professors. "Wow, professor!" Blossom said. "That was some fast thinking."

"Where did it go, anyway?" Bubbles asked.

"Actually, nowhere," the professor said. "A double portal like that would have been comprised of two sets of coordinates, which is an impossibility, so most likely, the portal just empties out into some dimensional non-space. Anyway, without his own Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device, he'll be stuck there for some time."

"Well, that's good…all's well that ends well, I say," alt-Professor said. "At least the worlds are safe now."

Everyone gathered back together again. Blossom asked, "What now? Bubbles, Buttercup, the professor and I are all in the right dimension, so I guess you guys will be getting back to your respective dimensions…"

"Heck yeah!" Dexter said. "This has been fun and all, but I have school in the morning…mustn't be late! I have a perfect attendance record to uphold, you know…"

Both Buttercups rolled their eyes a little, but Blossom just nodded at him, smiling, "Yeah!" She glanced at the alt-girls, "You three…how _is_ your world, anyway? I heard all about it from the professor…have things gotten better?"

"Yes," Alt-Blossom nodded, "The people are beginning to trust us again. Things are really falling back into place. We still think about the professor every night, though…you can't imagine how happy we were when he came to visit us tonight. Of course we knew we had to help him any way we could."

Blossom nodded, and looked over at alt-Professor, "How about you? Are you going back to your dimension?"

Alt-Professor was lost in thought….he said, "Hmm…well, truthfully, I'm just glad my world is safe…but there really isn't anything for me to return to. My Townsville is destroyed…and so are my girls…"

The professor smiled, and said, "I know three girls who would be _happy_ to have you join them." He looked over at the alt-girls, and said, "Am I right?"

Alt-Blossom's expression brightened at the idea of getting a new professor in their world…she exclaimed, "Hey, yeah! Professor…you can come with us!" The other two alt-girls looked overjoyed as well.

"It makes sense," the professor continued. "You've lost your girls…they've lost their professor. I'm sure you both would be happy together…what do you say?"

Alt-professor gave a slow smile, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, and said, "I'll do it…" He stepped forward, and the three alt-girls flew into his arms, hugging him. "My girls…"

The others smiled at this display, except for Dexter, who said, "All right, now could someone be so kind as to open up a portal back to my own dimension, please?"

"Okay, Dexter…" Blossom took out alt-professor's HCMD, made the necessary adjustments, and punched the button. The vortex opened up, and as Dexter prepared to step through, she said, "Dex…uh…" She glanced at alt-Blossom, who smiled back at her. Looking back at Dexter, she said, "I, uh…I'll visit you really soon, okay?"

"Sure, fine, whatever…all right, goodnight!" he said, disappearing through the vortex. It closed up behind him, and she gave another dreamy smile, thinking, _He said I could visit…*sigh*_

He handed the HCMD to the professor, who quickly put in the coordinates for the alt-girls' dimension. That done, he handed it to alt-professor, saying, "Take care, Professor."

Alt-professor smiled, punching the button on the HCMD to open the vortex, and said, "We will. So long everyone! Come by anytime!" He passed through the vortex as everyone waved, and the alt-girls paused to wave back, before disappearing through as well. The girls and the professor stayed there only for a few minutes longer, before returning home for some well-deserved sleep.

* * *

Thousands upon thousands of roaches drifted through the endless void, extending out in all directions, with no place to go, and no way out. Floating amongst them was a single larger object: Roach Coach's human-shaped robot suit. However, parts of it were disassembled, and Roach Coach himself crawled about on its exterior, furiously taking pieces of it apart and moving the components to a safer place inside. He hissed, "Lousy, rotten PowerPuff Girls. If I'd only written down exactly how the HCMD works! Well, I can figure it out, maybe even build a makeshift one. _Then_ I'll show 'em! It might take months, or even years, but I _will return_! _Then_ we'll see who's the _true_ superior life form! _HeheheahhaHAHAHA_!"

**__**

THE END


	8. Viral Reality

**__**

EXCURSION 8 - Viral Reality

By: Mark J. Hadley

_The last time we met, I was going to say something to you, but I…_

*erase*

When the two of us were fighting the…

*erase*

How's it going? I just wanted to say hi, and that I think…

*erase*

Blossom sat at the kitchen table, writing the letter, pausing for a moment to think of what to say. She wanted it to come out just right. _I've written letters like this before,_ she thought, _but this one's important. I have to make sure I don't mess it up…_

Bubbles appeared behind her, peeking over her shoulder, "Whatcha writing?"

Covering up the paper with her arms, she said, "Nothing…go 'way."

"Nothing?" Bubbles giggled. "You can't fool _me_…I know what it is, it's another letter to your _boyfriend_, isn't it?"

Blossom blushed a little, and said, "He's _not_ my boyfriend…I…I don't even know if he _likes_ me…he's just a regular friend, you know?"

Smiling, Bubbles said, "Yep…just a _regular_ friend. From another _dimension_."

"It's still no different," Blossom insisted, going back to writing her letter.

"C'mon, lemme help!" Bubbles said, flying around in front, over the top of the table. "You don't wanna mess it up, do you?"

"Well, no, but…" Blossom started to say. At that moment, the door to the lab opened up. Buttercup and the Professor emerged, and Blossom quickly folded her letter up, tucking it away, "Hi, Professor! So, are we leaving soon?"

"Pretty soon," he replied, tuning the HCMD in his hands. "I'm happy that you girls have decided to continue these dimensional excursions of ours. There's still a lot to be learned from them."

Bubbles nodded, "So where are we going this time?"

The professor grinned slightly. He knew Bubbles was aware that they had no idea where they were going to end up at any given time, but she enjoyed asking, anyway. Lately, it was sort of becoming tradition. So he gave the traditional answer, "We'll find out when we get there."

"Okay!" Bubbles said with a smile.

As the professor started to raise the HCMD, they suddenly heard the hotline buzz in the other room. He hesitated, as Blossom flew over to answer it. Her voice came from the room, "Hello, Mayor?…What, now?…Oh, all right, I'll be right there…" She hung up the hotline and came back into the kitchen, a dejected look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Buttercup asked.

"Nothing," she said. "The mayor's rebuilding City Hall today from that last monster attack, and he wanted one of us there to help move debris and stuff. It'll last the whole day."

"Aw…" Bubbles said. "Do we have to?"

Blossom nodded, "Yes, otherwise it'll take a whole week for them to fix it up. Don't worry, you guys go ahead with the trip, I'll stay here and do the job…"

"Are you sure?" the professor asked.

"It's all right," Blossom said, waving it off. "I'll just wait for the next one, okay? Have fun!"

Nodding, the professor activated the HCMD, opening the vortex up. He stepped through, and Buttercup followed. Bubbles turned and said, "See you later, Blossom! Good luck with the letter!" She flew through the vortex, and it sealed up behind her. Blossom half-smiled, and flew out from the house, on her way to City Hall…

* * *

They emerged from the vortex into vaguely familiar territory, as usual. They were still in the kitchen, and it looked normal enough, but it was _slightly_ run-down, like it hadn't been cleaned in a month or two. All things considering, it wasn't the _worst_ they've seen, but it still put them on guard…after all, if the professor ever let the house go into a state of disrepair, it usually meant something was wrong.

The lights were all out, and the house was quiet. It was day, though, so they could easily see with the light from the windows. _I really wish someone was home,_ the professor thought. _I never feel comfortable looking around without the "owner's" permission._

Buttercup didn't seem to feel that way, because she immediately started flying around the house to check it out, calling out, "Hello? Anybody home?" There was no response.

The professor walked over and creaked open the door to his lab. As he did, he became aware of a light from below, a soft blue glow. Bubbles flew over next to him, and called out, "Buttercup, over here…" She showed up a moment later.

The three of them descended down the stairs to the lab. The lights were off, and they couldn't hear anything except a faint bubbling sound, like an aquarium, off in the distance. The blue glow was coming from deeper in the lab, the source obscured by equipment, but still casting a faint blue against the walls. Curiously, they wandered towards it. The professor was in front, and froze in shock at what he saw…when the girls saw it a second later, they gasped.

There were three tall glass tubes that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Each one of the tank-like tubes were filled with a softly-glowing blue liquid, with small bubbles constantly rising up from the base of the tank. Suspended in the middle of the tubes, though, were the Powerpuff Girls, one of them in each tube. They were each lightly clothed, just enough to keep them decent, and each had an oxygen mask on their face, the hose from the mask extending up into the top of the tank. They looked asleep…or dead. However, there were readouts on the side of the tank that indicated it was probably the former.

Still, they didn't know what to make of it. Bubbles looked at "herself" through the glass and said, "What's…what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know," the professor said. It was difficult to make them out entirely, due to some condensation that built up on the side of the tubes. He wiped his hand across the glass on the tube that held Blossom, so he could get a better look. It was then that he could see her skin clearly…it was a strange, pale color, and had several green blemishes across the surface.

"Are they sick?" Buttercup asked.

"It looks like it," the professor said. He frowned, thinking hard…_The girls' immune systems are enhanced by Chemical X…so what could get them sick enough to go to these measures?_

"Professor!" Bubbles called out. He and Buttercup came over quickly to see what Bubbles was looking at. On the table in front of her, she found an open book lying on the table. The professor immediately recognized it as a journal he kept on his lab work…except, a number of the pages had been torn out, in a hurry it seemed.

Thumbing through the remaining pages, he saw nothing but familiar material, all the way from his earlier experiments, up to the creation of the Powerpuff Girls themselves. After a number of further entries, though, he came to the missing section. _Hmm,_ he thought. _That puts it at about 6 months or so of missing pages._

Past the torn-out section, however, he noticed that there was still one page that still had writing on it, that had not been torn out, and by the looks of it, it was the last entry in the book. He looked it over carefully…it contained a partial journal entry, carried over from the previous (missing) page, and one last full entry:

__

-ing signs of remission as always, but it's still not enough. I'm still not any closer than I was any of the other times. When is this nightmare going to end?

#948 --

I can no longer work here in the lab. I'm taking everything pertaining to AB and relocating my efforts to Townsville Hospital. That way, I can dispense the treatments in a more orderly fashion to those who need them. Their equipment there will also come in handy. I pray that I can find a permanent solution soon, for everyone's sake.

"The hospital," the professor said. "We have to go there. If we can find my counterpart, we can learn what's going on in this world."

"We'll fly you there," Buttercup offered. "Okay?"

He nodded, "All right. Let's go…" As they hurried out of the lab, Bubbles took one last glance at her counterpart, floating in the tube, and gave a brief shudder. It was creepy…she hoped they could do something to help them out, that was definitely no way to live…

* * *

Flying over townsville, everything looked strange. Much like their house, everything looked fairly unkempt. There wasn't hardly enough out on the streets, trash was beginning to pile up, and traffic was at an absolute minimum. This certainly didn't seem like the busy city Townsville usually was.

They also noticed something else…most of the people lying near alleys or limping down the street looked in bad shape. Their skin was similar to what they saw on the alt-girls in the lab: pale, with green blemishes. "Everyone's sick…" Bubbles said softly.

"Something's not right here," the professor remarked. "There's the hospital ahead. I hope we'll find what we're looking for there."

As they approached the hospital, they saw a larger gathering of people. They were all sick-looking as well. Many of them were crowded around the door, like they were waiting to get in. A number of them were lying down, and some of them looked like they had passed out…or worse.

Cringing, the girls flew up to the side of the hospital and looked for an open window. Flying in, they landed in the hallway and started down towards the nearest receptionist desk. As they did, they passed room after room where they could hear people coughing and sniffling. Each of them had the disease as well.

There was no receptionist at the desk. Flying around behind the desk, Bubbles picked up a piece of paper on it and read it aloud, "All calls to be routed to Professor Utonium in room 403." She looked up, "Hey, d'ya think that's where we'll find you? I mean, him?"

The professor nodded, "We're on the fourth floor already, so it should be just down this hall."

They hurried down the hall, passing by more sets of rooms, until coming to a stop next to a door marked '403 LAB'. The professor approached it, and knocked on it a couple of times. They heard a voice sounding like the professor's calling back, "Just a minute!"

After a few moments, the door opened up. It was indeed the professor. He looked perfectly normal, except for his skin. It appeared as though there were several faded spots across it, almost like the blemishes the other people had. Instead of pale, however, his skin was normal, and the 'blemishes' were almost gone. When he answered the door, he froze in shock, and became speechless, as he saw who had knocked.

The professor, wasting no time, said, "HCMD."

Alt-professor gave a sigh of relief, "Whew! For a moment, I was worried…I thought I was hallucinating or something." Glancing past him, his eyes widened. He pointed at Bubbles and Buttercup, saying, "Err…are those _your _Powerpuff Girls or mine?"

"Mine," the professor told him.

"Oh," alt-professor said, hanging his head slightly. "I was hoping you maybe brought a cure with you."

Bubbles flew up next to the professor and said, "What's happening to everyone here?"

Buttercup joined her sister and added, "Yeah, everyone's sick…"

"Why don't you come in," alt-professor said, "and I'll explain everything." He opened the door wider and let them in. The lab looked like the kind of thing you _would_ find in a hospital, except he had modified it, adding pieces of equipment here and there.

"Now, about this disease…" the professor said.

"Yes," alt-professor said. "It all happened a long time ago. I suppose I should start from the beginning." He sat down on a stool and began, "About six months ago, a deadly virus appeared. People around the town started to get sick, even myself. I examined a sample of it, and found that it was extremely unique. It conformed to no virus I had ever seen before…plus, it spread very quickly, infecting a body in mere seconds."

"That's fast…no wonder it spread to everyone," Buttercup said.

_Why does this disease sound familiar? _the professor thought. Then it hit him. "The Amoeba Boys?!"

"Why yes…" the professor said, surprised. "They had caught a cold from standing out in the rain, and somehow, the cold virus mutated with their unique single-celled anatomy, creating a sort of super-virus. Even with this knowledge on-hand, though, we couldn't find a full cure…"

Bubbles was shocked, "You couldn't?"

"You tried everything?" the professor said, just as incredulously as Bubbles.

"Everything I could think of," he replied. "Even the girls' enhanced immune system was powerless against it. All it has was a delaying effect, it seemed; it took them longer to catch it."

"Ah, yes, that follows," the professor said.

Nodding, he continued, "Eventually, I found a sort of _partial_ cure for it. More like a minor treatment, really. At first, it looked like it had worked…the Amoeba Boy virus had vanished entirely. But then it happened. Barely a couple of weeks later, the virus reappeared. Whatever had survived of it had mutated into a new strain, and this one was worse than the last. AB-2, we called it."

"What did you do?" Buttercup asked.

"I took what I knew from the first strain," alt-professor said, "and tried to use it to make another cure. Again, all I succeeded in doing was creating a partial cure for it. And sure enough, a couple of weeks later, yet _another_ strain emerged. And then _another_. It was almost an endless cycle, it seemed."

The professor rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "So even though you were trying your best to get _rid_ of the thing, in actuality you were making it stronger?"

"Yes, but what choice did we have?" alt-professor said. "If we try to get rid of it, we make it more powerful. If we don't, it'll wipe us out."

"The Amoeb--…err, AB was never really fatal in our world," the professor told him.

"It is, if you give it time enough to run its course," alt-professor said. "Like a fool, I just continued finding these mini-cures. No fatalities occurred, after all, so I didn't see anything wrong with it. And then AB-5 surfaced. It hit the girls first, and hard. I worked as fast as I could, and found the partial cure, but it wasn't working. The Chemical X in their bodies rejected the serum. It was fine for normal humans, but too heavy of a concentration for them. So I did the only thing that I _could_ do…"

Recalling the tubes in the lab, the professor guessed, "You put them into stasis…until a full cure could be found?"

"That's right," alt-professor answered. "I'm guessing you saw my lab. Yes, that's what I had to do. I had no choice."

"So…what happened?" Bubbles asked.

He continued, "It just kept getting worse. By this time, it was starting to make its way outside of Townsville, out of control. By AB-9, it had spread across the entire globe. As soon as I found one of my partial cures, I had to send the formula out quickly to medical facilities all over the world for them to synthesize and distribute. By AB-11, almost everyone on Earth had been infected…that means that _everyone_ will have to be treated for each additional strain of virus as they surface. We can't keep this up forever…already, there have been reports of scattered fatalities, from people that had not received the cure quickly enough."

"My goodness…" the professor breathed.

"I'm trying to find the cure for AB-13 right now," he said. "If I don't stop _this_ one soon…this one shows the potential of being one-hundred percent fatal within a mere few days…"

"Oh no!" Bubbles exclaimed. "Professor, is there anything we can do?"

"Well," alt-professor said, "there _is_ one thing you can help me with. Mojo Jojo had invented some of the most precise scanning equipment I've ever seen…if you could go to his hideout and get it for me, it might help greatly in the diagnosis."

"We're on it," Buttercup said firmly.

"Great…and you, Professor," he said. "You can help me out here…perhaps together, we can find a cure."

"Yes, I would be more than happy to," the professor agreed. Turning to the girls, he said, "Go find that scanning equipment right away. We'll be waiting here for you."

"We'll be right back!" Bubbles said.

The two of them flew back out into the hallway. As they headed back for the window they had entered the building in, Bubbles coughed a few times. Buttercup looked concerned, "Bubbles, are you all right?"

"I'm fine…just a little dusty in here," she said. "Looks kinda like they haven't cleaned up around here in weeks."

"No kidding, they've been too busy fighting this virus," Buttercup said. Together, the two of them burst out from the window and streaked across the sky, heading for Mojo's hideout.

* * *

It was dark in Mojo's observatory. No light came out from the windows. They cautiously opened the door and peeked their heads in, then sneaked quietly instead. "Think he's home?" Bubbles whispered.

"Doesn't look like it," Buttercup said. "Why would he keep it so dark if he was?"

"You're right," Bubbles agreed. "So what does this scanning equipment even _look_ l--…" She didn't get the time to complete the question, because at that moment, a purple beam of energy struck the wall right next to her. She yelped a little, jumping up and hovering a few feet off the ground.

They could see a silhouette deeper into the shadows of the lair. It had to be Mojo. But then his voice came, which sounded cracked and weak, "P…Powerpuff Girls…"

"Mojo?" Buttercup said. "Is that you?"

He limped out into the light from one of the windows. He was in horrible shape…eyes puffy, skin paled, patches of his fur missing from his head and arms. There was a laser cannon in his hands, gripped tightly by both of them, but it was shaking, like he didn't have the strength to hold it. He wheezed, "You…*_cough_* *_cough_*…you here…to kick me while I'm down…yes…?"

Buttercup shook her head. "No…Mojo, listen, we need to borrow your scanning equipment…"

With some fierceness, he shouted, "Absolutely not…" until his voice cracked under the strain and he collapsed into a fit of coughing once again. When he finished, he said wearily, "Can't you just leave a poor, sick monkey be?"

"But we need it!" Bubbles insisted.

"Yeah," Buttercup said. "We might be able to use it to help find a cure…"

Mojo let the laser cannon fall from his arms, and shook his head sadly, "A cure…a _cure_…the last twelve 'cures' did not work. The virus returned each ti--…*_cough*_…each time. What good will another 'cure' be?"

Bubbles cleared her throat and said, "Maybe with your machines, they can find a _real_ one."

"Perhaps…" Mojo said. Finally he turned and started walking back towards the darkness, "Whatever. I don't need it anymore. Take it, it's yours." He motioned towards a bank of computers on the far side of the room.

"Thanks, Mojo," Buttercup said, flying over to pick it up. She could tell that Mojo wasn't _trying_ to be helpful, he was just too weak to care. Still, at least they had the equipment now. They could bring it back, and hopefully find a cure before it was too late.

Bubbles flew over to help, picking up one of the banks of equipment, and suddenly coughed a few more times. Buttercup said, "You all right?"

"I'm f--…*cough* *_cough*_…" The equipment slipped form her hands, and she sat weakly down on the ground. Buttercup set her own equipment back down and started to fly over, but stopped just before reaching her. She could see her skin, even in the dim light, had started to become pale.

Buttercup cringed, thinking, _Oh no! She's got it too!_ "Stay right there, Bubbles…" she said, flying over and picking the equipment up again. She carefully flew back over with it and said, "I don't want to touch you…fly up and land on top of this stuff, ok? I'll carry you back…"

Bubbles nodded and coughed a few more times. She flew up slowly and lay across the top of the pile. She looked _very_ weak now. Biting her lip, Buttercup flew out from Mojo's hideout, heading back to the hospital. _Ah geez, _she thought, _I hope we can find a cure now…if we don't, Bubbles is in trouble…_

* * *

Bubbles rested on the bed in one of the hospital rooms. Her eyes were clenched shut, and sweat rolled down the sides of her head. Her skin was covered with the familiar green blemishes now, and she went into another coughing fit. The professor put a damp rag across her forehead, and said, "Don't worry, sweetie…you'll feel better, I promise…"

Her voice barely a whisper, she said, "…I wanna…I wanna go home…"

"Take it easy…just rest," he said. She fell quiet again, before releasing another series of coughs. He started walking grimly out of the room. _How do I tell her that we can't bring her back home like this?_ he thought. _If I did, we'd risk spreading AB-13 across our dimension as well…_

He returned to the lab, which was in the room right next to where he had put Bubbles. Alt-professor was busy working with the scanning equipment, running some tests. Buttercup hovered nearby, ready to render any other assistance that might be needed. Alt-professor looked up and asked, "How is she?"

"Not well," the professor said, shaking his head. "Any luck so far?"

"Nothing, I'm afraid," alt-professor replied. "I really thought this would give me some vitally-needed information, but so far, I'm just as stumped as before."

Staring back at the door, thinking of Bubbles, the professor said, "I can't believe that it got so out-of-hand in this world. I still can't believe that extracting a cure from the Amoeba Boys didn't work. Why didn't it?"

Alt-professor looked confused, "What? Why didn't what work?"

"Extracting a cure from the Amoea Boys," he repeated. Then, he thought about it a moment longer and asked, "You _did_ try that, right?"

"We couldn't," he said. "I sent the girls out to look for them, but we never found them. We found out later, after distributing the partial cure, that their own virus did them in as they tried to leave town."

"But…" the professor said, "but that means…that means that cure could still work!"

Alt-professor frowned, "Didn't you hear what I said? The Amoeba Boys are gone…we _can't_ get the cure from them…"

With a slight smile, the professor said, "Not from _them_, no…"

"What then?" alt-professor said. Instead of answering, the professor reached into his lab coat and pulled out his HCMD. Upon sight of this, alt-professor's eyes lit up, "Of course! I must have been blind not to see it before! Why didn't _I_ think of that?"

"What?" Buttercup asked, "Think of what?"

Fiddling with the HCMD's controls, the professor said, "Buttercup, you and I need to take a trip back to our dimension and give _our_ Amoeba Boys a little house call…" He punched the button, and the vortex opened up.

"Right behind ya!" Buttercup said, understanding now. She and the professor passed through the vortex quickly, and it sealed up behind them…

* * *

"Keep those presses rolling, boys!" Bossman said to his cronies. "We'll be rich in no time!" The other two Amoeba Boys continued working the tiny press, feeding paper in one end and pulling the fresh, crisp bills out the other. _Yeah,_ Bossman thought, _we're gonna be huge criminals after this! No one, not even those stinkin' Powerpuffs will laugh at us again!_

At that moment, one of those 'stinkin' Powerpuffs' crashed in through the roof of their hideout, an old treehouse they borrowed from some kid in the neighborhood. It was Buttercup, and she was carrying Professor Utonium with her. "_There_ you are! For cryin' out loud, we've been lookin' all _over_ for you!"

Bossman laughed, "Ha! You're too late to put an end to our little scheme, Powerpuffs! Ah, er…Powerpuff!"

"What are you _talkin'_ about…" She trailed off as she saw the printing press. She scooped up some of the bills sitting next to it and took a look at them. "Monopoly™ money?"

"_Counterfeit _Monopoly™ money!" Bossman declared proudly. "Once we flood the market with _these,_ we'll _own_ this city!"

Buttercup wearily slapped a hand to her forehead and, eyes closed, sighed, "Professor…let's just get the cure from them so we can go."

"Of course," he said. Going up to each one, he plunged a needle into them, extracting the Amoeba Boy virus cure. They didn't quite understand what he was doing, so they didn't struggle, although they each gave a yelp of pain.

"What was _that_ for?" Bossman demanded.

"I've got it," the professor said. "Let's go, Buttercup." She nodded, and picked him up.

Bossman frowned, "Now hold on a second! Aren't ya gonna bust us for counterfeiting?"

"Yeah!" both of the other two Amoeba Boys chorused.

Buttercup rolled her eyes and said, "Later. I'll be back later, all right?" She flew out from the treehouse without waiting for an answer. The Amoeba Boys watched them leave. Bossman glared at his cronies, who just shrugged.

* * *

Bubbles opened her eyes slowly, "Uhh…what happened?" Some figures came into focus above her. At first she though she was seeing double, before she realized that both of the Professors were looking down at her, smiling. She smiled back up at them and said, "Oh, hi, professors!"

Alt-professor said, "Good, she's coming around just fine."

Nodding, the professor asked her, "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

"A lot better," Bubbles said. She yawned and stretching her arms and legs, then rubbed her eye sleepily, "What's going on?"

"We're ready to go home now," the professor said, helping her sit up.

Bubbles suddenly remembered, and said, "The disease…?"

"The cure is working," alt-professor told her. "It's actually working. There's no trace of AB-13 left in anyone that we tried it on. I've sent the formula out to the other medical centers, so that they can start distributing the cure immediately."

Buttercup flew up next to him and said, "They're gonna bring _their_ Powerpuff girls out of those tubes now, too."

Smiling, Bubbles said, "So, everything will be back to normal?"

"Well, as normal as it can be when you have ultra-powered superheroes saving the day and all," alt-professor said with a slight smirk.

* * *

Blossom put the finishing touches on her letter, and sealed the envelope. _I wonder if I should do this,_ she thought. _I'm saying a lot here. Maybe I should hang onto it, think about it for a while. Well, I have to anyway, since the professor isn't back y--…_

As if on cute, the vortex opened up in the kitchen, across the room from where she was seated at the table. Bubbles, Buttercup, and the professor emerged from it, and it sealed up. Blossom hid the letter and said, "So, how was your trip?"

"Not the best," Buttercup said, "but at least we saved the day again."

"Really?" Blossom said, and they nodded. "Wow…this is like a habit for us, isn't it? I guess we're destined to save the day _wherever_ we go."

The professor scratched his chin thoughtfully as he set the HCMD down on the table, "Actually, there's something that puzzles me. You girls have never really 'lost', of course…and yet, in nearly every dimension we've visited, their Powerpuff Girls have been in a losing situation, or have lost _already_. It's only after our timely help that they end up winning. Does that strike anyone else as being extremely odd?"

"Hmm…" Buttercup said, thinking about it.

"Now that you mention it, yeah…" Blossom said. "That _is_ odd. If they're supposed to be _us_, then how come we're losing so _often _in those dimensions? It's almost like our dimension is the only exception. We _haven't_ lost."

After a pause, Bubbles added, "Yet." They all exchanged glances…it was obviously on all their minds, that maybe they were destined to save the day wherever they go, but that they're eventually destined to lose, as well.

Buttercup finally broke the silence, "Ah, they're not really _us_, anyway. See how we keep helpin' these other worlds? Maybe _we're_ the only ones destined to win all the time!"

"That could be," the professor said, brightening a little. Then he waved his hand in dismissal and said, "It doesn't really matter, does it? You girls control your _own_ destinies. Now…I think it's just about time for dinner, so what do you say we forget about all of this for one night, and I take you all out to Chubby Cheese's?"

"Yay!" all three of the girls chorused. The professor scooped up his car keys and headed for the garage, and Bubbles and Buttercup flew alongside him.

Blossom was going to follow, but she paused at the table, picking up the HCMD where the professor had set it down, and started fiddling with it. She put in the coordinates for the proper dimension, and hit the button to open the vortex. She pulled her letter out and stared at it…taking a deep breath, she reached into the vortex and dropped it, then pulled her arm back out and watched it seal up. _Well, that's it,_ she thought, with a slight smile…_There's no turning back now…_

**__**

THE END


End file.
